In King County
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: What would happen if the majority of the group had known each other before the outbreak? Pre-apocalypse story. AU. It starts off with a bad day for Daryl, a call to the police, and escalates quickly from there. Definitely a Caryl story, but a lot of the cast are there too. Rick/Lori/Shane, Glenn/Maggie, Rick/Michonne. Carl/Beth.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: If I owned TWD, Daryl would be in EVERY episode, have beaten the shit out of Ed instead of Shane, and would have found Sophia alive and well.**

_***Rick Grimes ***_

Rick and Shane were sitting in their shared police car, laughing as Shane told him sarcastic information about women, using his current (probably now an ex) girlfriend as an example. Rick felt himself shaking as he tried to suppress his mirth, figuring that Lori would be less than amused with their antics. Attempting to stifle his laughter helped him feel less guilty.

Comparing notes on how to handle women the best was a good way to make their lunch break pass by much faster. Well...the quickly passing time had nothing to do with them getting put off their break, it was a call in over the radio. The person on the other side sounded bored, as if they had more important things to do than report emergencies, and as soon as Rick heard the reason that they were being called, he knew why.

"Trouble at Dale's again," Shane sighed, shaking his head, causing shiny and wavy dark hair to move with it.

"It might not be him," Rick said, not believing his own words. Merle Dixon was the biggest troublemaker around, how could it not be him.

The look on his best friend's face made it clear that he didn't believe it either. "One way to find out," Shane said with a sigh as he turned the car on and put it into drive. "And you're cuffing him this time. This face can only take so many bruises."

"They make you look manlier," Rick clapped him on the back.

"Yes," Shane deadpanned, "because nothing screams masculine like the look of someone getting their ass handed to them by a piece of white trash strung out on whatever he chose to snort that morning."

"Merle isn't all that bad," Rick said. "You remember when we were in highschool?"

"I remember a lot about high school," Shane informed him. "Not once do I remember Merle being anything but _all that bad._"

"I remember him looking after Daryl," Rick informed him as they made it closer to the mechanic's shop, getting off one of three major roads that were in the tiny town of King County, Georgia, and getting on a small bumpy road that led to the garage and past that was a trailer park that Rick knew the Dixons' father lived in.

"Oh, and that one was any better," Shane scoffed. "Both of them are detrimental to society."

"They're good people," Rick assured him. "You just gotta look a bit deeper."

_****Daryl Dixon****_

He was already having a shitty day. He had overslept, and was already running thirty minutes late when he got out of his room and into the kitchen. Merle hadn't called, so Daryl figured that his older brother, who had lost his license two months before, was still sound asleep. Stupid jackass. Knowing that he was already late, and that Dale would surely understand, being the nice guy that he was, Daryl started his morning routine, beginning with turning on the coffee pot.

Next, was his morning shower, which he turned from seven or eight minutes, to three. As soon as he was sure that he didn't offend people with his smell, he jumped out of the cracked tub and on to the freezing tile floor. He quickly dried himself off, not looking in the mirror until he at least had a shirt on. He hated the scars on his chest and back. They were hideous, carving their way through him like a knife through a turkey.

The only difference was that his bastard of a father was too creative to only use knives. Blocking out the memories that rarely showed themselves to his conscience anymore, he managed to comb his brown hair, which needed to be trimmed, and go into his small kitchen just as the beeper went off on the old coffee pot, letting him know that it was finally ready. Sighing in relief, he grabbed a coffee thermos from the small wooden cabinet over the sink and began preparing the only thing that got him through days like this. He was just pouring a small amount of sugar into the steaming liquid, when his phone went off. The obnoxiously loud ringtone was so unexpected that he flinched and accidentally pulled the spoon that was already against the side of the thermos toward him, causing the entire cup to spill everywhere.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl swore loudly in protest as the steaming liquid dumped all over his hands and feet, coating the linoleum flooring, and left him standing in a puddle of the hot stuff. He immediately jumped backward, his hands and feet burning as if he had stuck them into a fire. Thankfully the cold floor was soothing his feet and the air was cooling his hands down. Both of his hands and both of his feet were already turning an angry red color. He sighed, realizing that his day was hellbent on getting worse as he grabbed a towel out of the nearest drawer and began cleaning the still steaming coffee off the floor. His hands were stinging the whole time from contact with the rough material of the rag.

He was quickly realizing that he didn't like the night shift. Dale had all sorts of crazy hours for a mechanic shop, staying open from noon to three in the morning for people who were too busy to get to the garage during the day. Daryl had covered for another man, Jim, who was out sick and couldn't work, last night and still had to go in at twelve. Normally it wouldn't be that much of a big deal, but Merle had insisted on going out and getting shitfaced drunk and Daryl had been the man that he called to carry him and his new lady friend home. He hadn't gotten into his bed until six that morning.

He sighed and fished his phone out of his pants pocket and almost growled in annoyance as he realized who called him. It was like Merle knew what would cause him the most pain. He looked down at his clothing and realized that only the very bottoms of his holey jeans were affected by the mess. He decided to just wear them for the day, he'd end up getting them dirty one way or another anyway. He just sighed as he walked over to his black leather couch, which was probably as old as he was; it was filled with cracks and cigarette burns, courtesy of his drunken brother.

After he sat down, he pulled his socks and work boots on before pulling his phone out. He dialed Merle's number and put it up to his ear, cursing under his breath when he didn't answer. "'Course," he muttered to himself, "damn jackass calls and makes me burn myself, ain't no need to answer now that his job's done."

He grumbled to himself as he grabbed his jacket and his car keys off the coat rack beside his worn out storm door and stomped out of the house. He looked up at the sky as he walked out and realized that he wouldn't be disappearing into the forest tomorrow. Ominous clouds were rolling around just on the outskirts of his vision; it was going to rain. "Son of a bitch," he swore at the realization. "Can't fuckin' believe this!"

He was in a bad mood all the way to Merle's house, who was just down the street from Horvath's Garage...which was also just down the street from their pa's house. He didn't know how Merle could stand being so near the bastard, even working close by gave Daryl a feeling of severe discomfort. _"The rent's cheap 'nough,"_ Merle had told him once, _"and the bitches are easy 'nough, makes it worth the sum' bitch bein' five minutes away."_

Daryl didn't understand his reasoning and he doubted anything would ever actually make it worth it. He sighed as he pulled up, Merle was sitting on the front of his deteriorated porch of the trailer that he was renting out. It was a single wide house with green tinged white walls and a rusted roof. The porch used to be white, but now it was only off white in small patches, the rest of it was greyish brown. His brother's elbows were resting on his knees as his hands laced together in the center, he was leaning forward, balancing his weight on it.

His normal smug smirk was sitting on his face, as if he could sense Daryl's displeasure with him and was basking in it...maybe because he was. Merle quickly rose from his spot and strutted to the car, his smirk widening if possible. "Somethin' wrong, baby brother?"

"Nodda thing," Daryl replied, his voice a forced calm. He refused to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing just how aggravated he was.

As he turned into Horvath's Garage's parking lot, and moved to the back, he saw a couple talking heatedly. He couldn't see the woman well enough to recognize any specific features about her, but the man was much larger than her, over weight, with a buzz cut hairdo and his shoulders were tensed. He saw the woman cower against the wall as the man drew his hand back. Immediately, Daryl knew what was going on. Despite the fact that he didn't know the specifics of their situation, he was already having a bad day, and he wasn't in the mood to even think about a man beating a woman.

"The fuck does that asshole think he's doin'?" Daryl growled as he slammed on the breaks. He didn't wait for a response from Merle as he killed the engine and got out of the car, just in time to see the fist hit home, right on the woman's jaw.

**Welcome to my first TWD fic ever. I'm so excited about this story! Sorry if the writing seems awkward...I'm a bit out of practice, and it should smoothen out as I go along. I hope you enjoyed it enough to leave a comment.**


	2. Chapter 2

_***Maggie Greene***_

Walking to the back of the store to sneak a cigarette was the best thing that she could have done all day. Normally leaving her sister to man the cash register to sneak away from her father's friend Dale, so he won't snitch on her, wasn't a good thing, but she didn't even get a chance to smoke. She had time to grab the stick out of her pack and a lighter as she was walking, when she heard someone speaking venomously. "Damn it, Carol! I can't believe you're such a whore, why were you looking at him?"

"Ed," Carol's voice came out as a meek whisper, "why are you even here? We've already agreed that we're getting a divorce. You don't need to worry about-"

"Shut up!" he thundered. "I bet you've been screwin' him since before Sophia was born! Knew that stupid little bitch wasn't mine!"

"You don't get to talk about our daughter like that!" Carol snapped. Maggie smiled, that was the Carol she knew. "Your drunken ass is the reason she's-"

The sound of skin on skin echoed through the air, stunning Maggie so badly that she couldn't move. Not a second later, she heard the sound of a door slamming harshly, snapping her out of her shock induced daze. She began moving forward quickly

"Hey, what the fuck are ya doin'?" a familiar angry voice sounded out.

Maggie managed to get around the corner of the old brick building just in time to see a vaguely familiar large man with an angry pudgy face, and a buzz cut being torn away from a trembling Carol and on to the cement ground by an attractive man with muscular arms, tanned skin, brown hair, and angry blue eyes, Daryl Dixon. She had to blink and make sure that she wasn't mistaken. Daryl was a quiet man with a talent for fixing cars up, but he never struck her to be someone so...so _heroic_. Maggie rushed forward, wrapped an arm around poor Carol, and pulled her into a hug, purposely shielding her face, figuring that she wouldn't want to see the traumatic event that was unfolding before her own wide eyes.

Daryl had jumped on the man that Maggie was guessing was Ed, and had proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Blood was pouring from what was most likely a broken nose and a split lip, and Daryl's fist was still flying forward, administering blow after blow. Daryl's older brother, Merle Dixon, his polar opposite, came racing over from the beat up truck. He had the look of interest and amusement on his face as he watched Daryl viciously beat the man. Carol, on the other hand, was trying with all of her might to pull away from Maggie, but the younger girl refused to let go, afraid that her friend would get hurt if she did.

"Daryl!" she found herself screaming hoarsely. "Daryl, please stop!"

She figured that her pleas would be met on deaf ears, but he abruptly stopped beating him, straightened up, and proceeded to scream in his face, "Lay your hands on another woman, Ed, and I will fuckin' kill you! I've seen Carol come in with bruise after fuckin' bruise! Givin' off excuses for your sorry ass; no more, damn it! Stay the hell away from her and everyone else here!"

Daryl seemed to think that Ed needed a bit more persuasion, maybe because the sounds coming out of his mouth weren't clear enough, so Maggie had to watch his hand flash forward again and hit what was most likely his cheek bone. Ed's head snapped to the side and he whined out in pain. Maggie didn't feel bad for the man, certain that Carol had taken what Daryl had just dished out to him and then some. The redneck got to his feet and stalked toward the front of the building, tensed, refusing to look at Maggie or Merle, who patted him on the back in what appeared to be congratulations, as he went. The only sound was Ed's whimpering from the ground, and Maggie couldn't help but smile down at the jerk.

Carol had given up on trying to break free of Maggie's embrace, and just stood there crying against her chest. Maggie was sure that it was out of fear, not anger toward the younger Dixon brother. Merle was standing on the other side of Ed, looking between the two women and the woman beater on the ground. "Get her inside, sugar," he said finally, "I'll get rid of the piece of shit that just caused my baby brother to split his knuckles. No one's allowed to do that but me."

Carol seemed to cry even harder; Maggie figured she was right, and that Carol was afraid.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Merle said, obviously uncomfortable with crying woman. "Daryl's already taken care of that, it seems... I'ma jus' get 'em off Dale's property. Can't be good fer business..."

Maggie blinked, unable to believe how much her day had turned around. She had Carol crying in her arms, she had just watched Daryl save said woman, and finally, Merle Dixon was trying to comfort someone. Carol seemed to calm down slightly at Merle's reassurance, and she was able to pull her away from the back of the garage and back to the front. "Come on, sweetie, let's go talk to Dale, I think you need the day off."

_****Daryl Dixon****_

He was fuming as he stormed across the parking lot, past quite a few of the workers, and into the restroom to get some of the blood off his clothes, feeling slimy for having that much of that sorry excuse of a man on him. He couldn't believe that he had lost his composure so quickly. He barely even talked to Carol, sure she was a pretty woman, he wasn't blind (or deaf to Merle's crude comments), and she was always kind to him whenever they did actually speak, but it wasn't as though they were close. He chalked it up as anxiety from thinking about his father first thing when he woke up. Seeing Ed hit such a kind woman reminded him of his own mother getting beatings almost every night, him being powerless to do anything about it. _Well_, he thought wryly to himself, _you're definitely not powerless now._

After calming down and getting his anger under control, he exited the men's room and caught sight of flashing blue lights. He groaned quietly to himself, he didn't have time for the trouble this was going to cause. The mortgage wasn't going to pay itself, no matter how shitty the house was. As he went outside, figuring that the sooner he figured out which officers were around, some realized that he wasn't a dumbass drunk like his brother, the better. He saw a couple of familiar police officers talking to Dale, Carol, Maggie, Merle, Ed, and a plump but muscular African American man that Daryl knew as T-Dog.

Relief flooded through him, Rick Grimes was a good and understanding man. Not to mention that his wife Lori was often at the shop talking to Carol, leading Daryl to believe that the two were fairly close friends. Shane Walsh was another story entirely. Daryl didn't think that the man was all that bad, but they just never really saw eye to eye, especially when Merle was involved. If there was anyone in the world that Shane hated more than Merle, Daryl wasn't sure he wanted to meet them. So Shane was just a dick to Daryl by association.

Rick had Carol's bruising jaw cupped lightly in his hand as he inspected Ed's handy work. He looked up as Daryl came to stand beside him brother and Dale with his arms crossed over his blue jacket. "Ah, hello Daryl," Rick greeted, a smile was on his face, which was covered in brown scruff, suggesting that Rick hadn't shaved that morning.

Daryl grunted his greeting, returning Shane's signature glare with one of his own briefly before turning back to his partner, who began speaking again. "I was just about to send someone to get you. Seems to me that you were caught up in a bit of a confrontation as you came into the parking lot this morning."

Daryl took a glance at Ed, who's face was already beginning to turn all different shades of black and blue, blood was beginning to dry on his lips and nose. Turning back to Rick, he wondered if the sheriff's deputy was understating things a bit. "He was beatin' her, Rick," Daryl shrugged, "was I supposed ta jus' drive by?"

Carol had made a point to stand as far away from Ed as possible, not that Daryl could blame her, which had led her to standing right in front of him. "I'm glad that he stepped in," she spoke up in his defense, startling him. Daryl figured she would have been upset about him beating her husband. "I had already told him to leave, and...I don't even know why he showed up at my job...Dale, I am so sorry, I jus-"

Dale just smiled at her in his usual, everything is going to be okay manner and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Carol, none of this is your fault. It's his, over there," he pointed the thumb of his free hand at Ed as he spoke.

"Haven't even heard a word outta ya, Ed," Rick observed, hostility leaking into his voice. "You gonna tell us your excuse for how sweet little Carol over here has a split lip and a bruised jaw?"

"How about y'all just leave it the hell alone," Ed snarled, apparently trying to sound intimidating. The way Carol flinched pissed Daryl off. "Ain't none of yer business, jus' me and my wife's. That dirty inbred hick had no business sticking his nose anywhere in it!"

Daryl reigned in the urge to beat the life out of the prick figuring that as bad as his day was turning out, he didn't need to help escalate anything. He was surprised with himself for being so levelheaded.

"You're gettin' a divorce, Ed," Rick said aggravation laced his tone. "And beatin' women is never a privet matter."

"So the question is, Rick," Shane said, speaking up for the first time. "What to do with the two of 'em."

"What do you mean 'two of them?'" Maggie demanded heatedly, her hands in fists at her hips. "Daryl was helping!"

"Doesn't matter," Shane shrugged. "If we bring in one, were gonna have to bring in both. Ed's beat up pretty bad."

"Why don' we jus' forget it happened?" Merle questioned. "They handled it like men...well Daryl did anyway. Ed handled it like the pussy ass bitch he is."

"Merle," Daryl muttered, "shut up for now."

"Why, little brother?" Merle demanded. "I'm righ' this time!"

"We can leave it alone," Daryl said, instead of acknowledging his idiot brother. He looked at Rick and prayed for an easy solution.

"What if I wanna press charges?" Ed snarled, stopping forward and looked up and down at Daryl. "Stupid hick came at me with my back turned!"

"That's because you were too busy hitting me, Ed," Carol said severely. "Now if you press charges, I'll make sure they don't go through!"

"'Sides," Daryl said angrily, unthinkingly placing a hand on her shoulder as he stepped forward. "You're facin' me now. Gonna try somethin'?"

Ed curled his upper lip at him angrily, but backed down.

"Get outta here, Ed," Shane said, disgust filling his voice.

The man scowled at the two officers and snapped at Carol, "You need to keep family matters privet."

"And you need to stop hitting women," Dale snarled at him. "Now get your ass off my property!"

Ed looked as though he was going to protest, but thought better of it with the two officers. "To hell with all y'all!" he roared as he was walking off. "Have fun fuckin' the hillbilly! Probably doin' his brother too!"

Daryl felt warmth rush to his face as Ed continued to speak. Carol struck him as a classy woman, definitely not anyone who would even cast a glance at a man so rough around the edges. She looked away from Ed's retreating figure and back to Daryl and the others. She looked into his eyes with her pretty blue ones, casting him a shy smile. "Thank you so much, Daryl. You didn't have to do that."

Daryl grunted in response, uncomfortable with the gratitude. "'S okay," he muttered, adverting his eyes quickly. "Ain't no reason to hit no woman. Stupid fuck had it comin'."

He saw her smile widen fractionally and began feeling relieved that he had showed up when he had, and that he was in the mood that he had been in. There was no telling what kind of shape she would have been in if he hadn't been around to intervene. He figured that there were worse ways for her to look than smiling prettily up at him.

"C'mon, Carol," Maggie said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and casting what seemed to be an encouraging smile at him. "Let's get that blood off your lip."

"After that, the two of you take the day off," Dale said to the two women smiling kindly. He turned to Daryl and said, "if you need a break, I understand. We can probably managed short staffed-"

"I'll be fine," Daryl shrugged. "Wasn't that big a deal."

Maggie pulled Carol away from the group and he saw her whisper something that caused the older of the two to widen her eyes and laugh quietly. He saw her face turn a nice shade of red before they walked through the doorway, leaving the four men in an awkward silence.

"Alright, guys," T-dog said. "There's a guy inside with an entire box of like ten hot pizzas, says his car stalled out on the way to deliver." The muscular man began laughing as he said, "he's pretty cool, he said that another guy is already delivering the pizzas, and that the ones in the car are useless. We can have 'em of we fix the car fast enough."

Dale smiled, "C'mon boys, time ta get to work! Merle, you'd better work your ass off, considering the fact that you eat like your stomach's a black hole."

**Thank you all so much for so many views, favorites, follows, and reviews! I smiled every time my phone buzzed with an email.**

**Best Daryl quotes:**

**What is your favorite Daryl moment or moments if you have more than one. Other characters too, but mostly Daryl. Its actually more important than it sounds because I'll end up having the overall favorite moments appear in the story. And let's face it: who doesn't wanna read about Daryl's finer or funnier moments?**


	3. Chapter 3

_***Carol Peletier***_

She couldn't believe what Maggie had told her before they walked into the shop. It made her forget that her jaw was throbbing, and that her lip was bleeding. She had cracked a smile and laughed lightly at her young friend's antics. "Can't believe that Ed called you a whore," she shrugged, "then again, you're pretty hot, bet Daryl would tap that."

"Maggie," Carol reprimanded halfheartedly, her face heating up, a small giggle forced its way through her lips despite her effort to stop it.

Maggie laughed only after they had disappeared from the mens' view. "What, Carol, you act like it's a surprise! Now I know you're no whore, but unlike that ugly bastard, you've got options! Now that you're divorced..." Maggie trailed off, smiling at her winningly.

"Not divorced yet," Carol reminded her. "Besides, despite what you said, I have a daughter, most men don't want the baggage..." she shook her head, "what am I saying? I shouldn't even be worrying about men!"

"Glenn Rhee," Beth's southern drawl was impossible to mistaken over the intercom. "Please bring your keys to the front desk. Glenn Rhee, please bring your keys to the front desk."

Maggie, who still had her arm around Carol's shoulders protectively, faltered slightly in her step as Beth repeated the message the second time. "Yes you should," she insisted. "Just like I do. You heard that name? I know Glenn, he's a delivery boy that used to go to school with me." Maggie smiled, most likely at the thought of him. "He was a nerdy Korean kid, so sweet, would do anything for ya. Whenever we would talk, he would always trip over his words and get so embarrassed. It was cute."

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" Carol questioned, a challenging smile and raised eyebrow appearing on her face involuntarily.

Maggie's face flushed prettily at the suggestion. "Oh, no, Carol, I couldn't-"

"Why not?" Carol asked, admittedly curious by how flustered the girl was.

"It's been a few years," she admitted, her eyes casted downward, "a guy like Glenn already has a girl, he probably doesn't even remember me..."

Carol smiled at Maggie, she was modest. Her hair was brown, shoulder length, and bouncy. She had a pretty green eyes, and a nice southern accent. If this Glenn guy forgot her, he clearly didn't have any taste. "You sure, sweetie, he sounds like a cutie..."

"Yeah," Maggie nodded confidently. "'Course I am." Her face fell fractionally, but she immediately perked up as she said the next sentence. "I wanna go and see my little princess...I haven't seen her in years! What is she right now, eleven?"

Carol hesitated. How was she supposed to tell Maggie that Sophia was in the hospital with various injuries from Ed, who had demanded to see his daughter two weeks ago? He had come to their apartment in Atlanta, where she no longer lived, and when she had tried to fight to stay with Carol, Ed had thrown her skinny frame down the long flight of stairs. Apparently she took too long hesitating, because Maggie was looking at her strangely. "Is everything okay with Sophie, Carol?"

Carol opened her mouth to reply, but didn't know what to say. She knew that she didn't have to protect Ed, but her fear of him was still strong. Knowing that she was still petrified of him, despite the fact that she was the one calling for the divorce, made her angry. "She's in the hospital," Carol sighed, feeling tears prickle behind her eyes. As she spoke aloud, it was like admitting the failure that she was as a mother.

"Oh God," Maggie said, covering her mouth with a hand, which had teal nail polish freshly painted on her nails. She and Beth had probably spent the night fixing each other up. "What happened? Is she okay? God, Carol, you should have told Dale, she needs you up there with her, he would have let you have the time off until she got home! Let's go sweetie, we need to get you up to the hospital."

Carol didn't know what to say as Maggie ushered her into the bathroom, insisting that Sophia wouldn't want to see her mother in the shape that she was in.

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

They had taken Maggie's car to King's Hospital, a large five story building. Small by other's standards, but it was the largest building in their tiny town without a contest. Even the apartments and hotels were shorter. Sophia was all the way on the fifth floor, much to the skinny blonde's delight. She had been looking over the town to Horvath's Garage, wondering what her mommy had been doing.

"Just working," Carol replied easily. Of course she wasn't about to tell Sophia anything about her father.

Maggie was in the second chair, a stiff looking recliner that she had pulled to beside the bed. She was smiling brightly at Sophia, telling her how cool her hot pink cast looked on her arm. Maggie had managed to snag a sharpie marker out of the small pocket book that she had resting beside her on the sterile floor, and was now doodling on it whatever Sophia requested. Carol felt a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth as she watched Sophia watch in fascination as Maggie drew a flower on the cast. It was a nice change seeing her daughter smiling and laughing instead of trembling and crying.

"Alright," Maggie said, her words were stretched out because she was still concentrating on the finishing touches on the petals of the rose that she was doodling. "How's that that, Sophie?"

She looked positively delighted as she nodded vigorously at Maggie and said, "Thank you."

Maggie shrugged, "Did the same thing when Beth broke hers, and when I broke mine." She smiled and lightly brushed some of the shoulder length blonde hair behind Sophia's ear. "'s long as you feel better soon, that's all that matters."

Carol smiled at the two of them for a moment longer before she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket. Pulling it out, she wanted to just ignore it, but knew that if she didn't this morning could happen all over again...this time with no Daryl Dixon to save the day. "Can you two please just give me a moment. I'll be right there."

Both Maggie and Sophia nodded, though the older one seemed to be keener on reading expressions, because she looked at Carol worriedly as she did so. Carol made her way, across the room and out to the deserted hall before she picked up.

"'Bout time ya answered, stupid bitch-"

"What do you want, Ed," Carol snapped, unaware of how biting she was able to make her voice. And she just realized that she was positively shaking, not in fear, but in anger. Ed had taken over eleven years away from her, and he had attempted to take a lot more than time from her. She would be damned if Sophia was going to be taken away from her by that bastard as well.

_****Daryl Dixon****_

He hated the fact that he worked in a garage, his pay was good, and despite all that he still had a piece of shit for a car. The rusty old Ford was nothing but a hunk of junk. Daryl wasn't exactly picky, he didn't want a huge monster truck with wheels half his height. Hell he didn't even want a _new_ truck, all he wanted was one to get him from point A to point B. He didn't even have that.

He had been elected by Merle to run out and grab some drinks for the group, who was chilling at the back with Glenn Rhee and ten boxes of pizza for the lunch hour. He sat behind the wheel of his truck outside of the nearest convenience store. Morales'. The truck's engine was whining loudly, and blatantly refusing to turn on. He swore violently as he tried again and realized that the battery was dead. He slammed his head back against the headrest, unsure of what to do. He could call one of the guys at the shop, but he hated imposing on them. They didn't need to worry about his car troubles.

He was a mechanic and he couldn't even keep his own vehicle running. He was beginning to realize that he seriously hated irony. He was only a five minute drive from the shop, he could probably make the walk in ten or so minutes, less if he really wanted to. He sighed, getting out of the car and grabbing the grocery bag full of drinks. His day just kept going down south at full speed.

_**~~TWD D/C TWD~~**_

He made it to the shop maybe eight minutes after, his mood foul from all of the time that he had to contemplate his situation.

"What took ya so long, Daryl?" Dale asked as the younger man set the grocery bag down on the table. "I was about to send a search party out for you."

Daryl tried to hide his scowl at the joke, and was mostly successful. "Nothin' important," he shrugged at the mostly white haired man, who was still wearing that goofy fisherman hat despite being inside. "Just got caugh' up in a long line."

"Not to rush you guys," the man that Daryl guessed was Glenn Rhee said. He had a hat on as well, a baseball cap that was hiding silky looking black hair, "but the pizza doesn't taste as good when it's not hot."

"Then let's dig in!" Merle exclaimed, already opening the first box. He grabbed the first slice of pizza that he could reach and pulled the steaming piece up to his mouth, taking an obnoxiously big bite before looking at Daryl expectantly. The expression on his face made it obvious what he was expecting. Daryl didn't bother hiding his eye roll as he threw a twenty ounce soda at his brother, who caught it easily. He then handed out the other bottles, nodding in acknowledgement to those who thanked him.

By the end of their lunch hour, Daryl realized that he could probably stand being around the people who were around him more than he thought. Dale was a decent man with a big heart and a even bigger conscience. He already knew he was a good guy, but he didn't really realize how good. T-Dog was a cool guy, a hard worker, and told pretty good jokes. Daryl liked him despite his brother's racial prejudice. Glenn was a quick witted man, who made great comebacks to a lot of T-Dog's jokes.

It turned out that Glenn knew both Dale and T-Dog personally. He also knew someone else he worked with, "Didn't you tell me that Maggie Greene worked here?"

The way he said her name made Daryl raise an eyebrow. He chose to remain silent, unlike his brother.

"Why you wanna know?" Merle questioned, a smirk slowly forming on his face. "You two bumpin' uglies or somethin'?"

Glenn's olive toned skin reddened tremendously as the rest of the group laughed quietly at the young man's discomfort. "N-no," he stammered, "she's just an old friend..."

An awkward silence consumed the group for a few moments before Dale interrupted. "I'm having a get-together next Friday. My friend's daughters are coming up from Florida and I wanted to welcome them. I'd appreciate it if you guys would turn out. There'll be free beer."

"We'll be there," Merle informed him easily as soon as the man mentioned alcohol.

"How am I not surprised?" Dale laughed, shaking his head. "Feel free to bring any children you might have with you, I know Rick and his family'll be there."

_*****Carol Peletier*****_

She cursed to herself as she hung up the phone from Ed. It had lasted all of three minutes, but nothing remotely nice or comforting had been said by either person. Needless to say, she had attracted a few strange looks as people passed her by. Ed had been reprimanding her for embarrassing him at Dale's garage, and had informed her that she needed to quit being stupid and come back 'home' so they could be a 'family' again. She rarely cursed, but at that moment she informed him that she called bullshit.

She smiled at the thought of how red his face had probably gotten as she saw Sophia's nurse, a plump woman with straight black hair and a blinding white smile, walking toward her. "Doctor Wilson sent me down here to see if you were in," she said.

"What does he need?" Carol asked nervously, praying that they wouldn't demand financial compensation immediately.

"Sophia should be ready to go home by tomorrow," she said, "we want to keep her over night just one last time. He wants to make sure that her concussion is no longer threatening."

Carol nodded, her lips raising into a smile. Her baby was going to be okay. She was coming home soon. The nurse turned around and walked away as Carol stepped back inside of her daughter's room, excited to tell both of them the news.

_**~~~TWD D/C TWD~~~**_

Maggie drove her back to Dale's garage around eight o'clock. Sophia had passed out around seven, and Carol had treated both of them to a cheap hamburger from Morales' gas station/diner. Maggie had went out of her way to make Carol feel good, not at all trying to be subtle about it. She was telling her stories from her childhood, most of them so ludicrous that Carol questioned if they were actually true. She didn't miss the way that the oldest Greene girl would throw Daryl's name randomly into their conversations. She tried to be casual about it, and almost succeeded...almost.

Carol didn't understand why she was talking so animatedly about him. If she hadn't heard the way she talked about Glenn, she would think that she was smitten with the younger Dixon brother. That could only mean on thing... The thought of what Maggie was attempting to do caused her cheeks to flare up as they pulled into the parking lot of Horvath's.

"Ya know, if ya didn' spend all of yer money on booze and drugs, I might not have to give you money for bills and food, and I'd have 'nough money to buy somethin' better than this piece o' shit!"

_Speak of the devil,_ she thought wryly. She had heard Daryl yell more today than she had the entire time that she had known him. Getting out of Maggie's green Jeep, she walked forward slowly. She was still weary of angry men, Ed or not. Anger led to violence, which always ended up with either her or someone she cared about getting hurt.

"Come on, Darylenia," Merle's mocking voice came through next, "get your panties out of their twist! Ain't that big a deal."

Carol finally spotted them, arguing maybe ten feet from her old Cherokee. She saw Beth walk out of the building, cast an amused glance at the bickering siblings, and wave at Carol cheerfully before hopping into the passenger's seat of the car. Maggie waved at her one last time before the sisters were off, already had their radio playing some country tune or another before they even made it out of the parking lot. She watched the car with a fond smile up to the moment it disappeared. She loved those girls.

The brothers' arguing was getting more and more heated, and she was afraid that a fistfight was about to erupt. "Daryl," she called as she walked toward them, unsure of why she was doing what she was about to do. "Merle, y'all guys havin' car troubles? I can give you a ride to your houses if you'd like."

"We're just fine-" Daryl barked, cutting himself off immediately when he realized who exactly he was speaking to. His blue eyes widened considerably and his angry expression softened fractionally, going from pissed off to mildly annoyed. "We'll be fine, Carol," he said. "I don' wanna make ya go outta your way for nothin, 'specially with Ed god knows where."

"I don't mind," she said quickly, her eyes flickering between the two brothers. She knew that she could at least trust Daryl now, even if Merle struck her as a bit shifty still.

She saw Daryl's expression change slightly. He was contemplating the situation. Carol heard the soft sound of rumbling in the distance, and knew that a thunderstorm was going to be closing in on them too.

"Told you we needed to walk home sooner," Merle informed his brother smugly. "Your senses dulling baby brother?" He turned to Carol, his grin was a crooked one, but friendly all the same. "We'd love to, if yer sure it ain't no trouble."

Carol smiled in return, replying, "It's no trouble at all."

**Hopefull this story will speed up in the next couple of chapters. Fair warning: I despise Andrea, and my friend and I laughed as she died, but almost cried for Michonne. I'll try to keep her IC, but she wil not be a major character by any means. Lol as soon as I saw her shoot Daryl, I legitly said, "I hope walkers eat her alive." But if you're an Andrea fan, like my bro, that's cool. I'm not gonna bash her in the story.**

**Upcoming Characters: Michonne, Carl, and Lori.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: if I owned TWD, Michonne would have been there from the beginning 'cause she's awesome, and I wouldn't be writing this story on a shitty app on my phone.**

_***Daryl Dixon***_

He didn't miss the relief in Carol's eyes as she pulled into Merle's front yard. Daryl realized that she didn't like Merle all that much. He couldn't blame her, half the time Daryl didn't like his brother either. She probably overheard the conversation between them and didn't trust Merle's bad habits. Ed had probably made sure that she didn't trust a drunk or a druggie. She was surprised that she was comfortable enough to even offer them a ride.

Rain began pelting on the windshield as she put her car in neutral. Her head lights illuminated the small pellets of water as the crashed on the dilapidated house and porch.

"Thanks, darlin'" Merle said as he opened the door and stepped outside, drenching his clothes almost immediately. Not seeming to care, he shut the door and smiled at them through Daryl's window before waving a final goodbye and walking leisurely toward his trailer. Sometimes Daryl questioned whether they were really related. They looked nothing alike and they acted like completely opposites. Like night and day.

He turned and looked at Carol as she put her car into reverse. The look in her eyes was a nervous one, and Daryl realized that she wasn't comfortable. She was very obviously on edge and didn't want to admit it. Daryl could relate. In his upbringing emotions had been tools of exploitation.

He imagined Carol had been emotionally abused as well as physically. He was unsure which was worse, you couldn't see the emotional scars, but they were there all the same. The only people who could tell were the ones that knew what to look for. Usually it was another victim. He didn't comment on it, however, he knew what having another person knowing what you're feeling did to you. It made you feel vulnerable, and feeling that way was sickening.

The ride was pretty much silent, Daryl only speaking up to tell her the directions, and Carol wasn't exactly itching to start a conversation. He could appreciate that; silence wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Most of the time it was more productive that the pointless chattering that most people filled it with. She finally said her first full sentence as they were rolling into the bare front yard of his house.

"I'm sorry that you got involved in all of this," she said quietly, her eyes downcast, as if she found the steering wheel extremely interesting in the dim light.

Daryl frowned slightly at her, the way her voice caught suggested that she really did feel guilty and that she was quite possibly close to shedding tears that she didn't want to let go in front of anyone, let alone a practical stranger. "Ain't got nothin' to be sorry 'bout," he informed her. He desperately wanted to make her feel better, but great God above he didn't know how to handle any woman let alone an upset one.

His hand reached forward without him really thinking about it and settled gently on her shoulder. She tensed slightly at the contact, making Daryl impossibly more uncomfortable. After a second, however, she relaxed and turned to look at him. She was obviously exhausted, but past that she looked lost and confused. He didn't know what to tell her.

He hadn't had anyone other than himself to look after when he was old enough to endure his Father's beatings unprotected. Merle had left and his mother had burned herself alive. Lost in his own memories for a second, he unconsciously gave Carol's shoulder a gentle squeeze. He was only pulled out of his reverie when he felt her slightly calloused hand brush lightly against his. He blinked quickly and focused in on her once more.

"Thank you," she whispered, a raw emotion coating her voice. "You might have saved my little girl...thank you so much."

Daryl didn't know what she was talking about. He remembered seeing pictures of a small girl behind the counter of Dale's shop, but he hadn't really put two and two together and realized that she had a daughter. He merely nodded, figuring that anything that he said wouldn't do anything other than make the entire situation worse.

Carol casted him a smile, trembling slightly as she fought to hold by the tears that were making her eyes shiny. Daryl figure that getting out would be the best option for both of them. Forcing a weak smile on to his lips, he said, "Drive safely," and opened the door, jumping out. He waved to her quickly and stood in the rain like a fool, watching as she pulled out of his yard and out of his line of sight.

He was curious as to what Carol had been through before that morning, but he knew that whatever it was wasn't his business, and that it would most likely be enough to send him after Ed like a hawk after its prey.

_****Rick Grimes****_

He woke up relieved that it was Friday. He would be getting off early in the afternoon, and Dale was having that barbeque the next day. He knew that Carol was going to be there and the thought made him smile, she needed to get out more. Without Ed constantly creeping over her shoulder, she would probably be a much more gregarious person. He knew that Andrea and Amy were coming down, which was nice. He hadn't seen either of them since Amy had been in diapers.

Lori was beside him, sleeping soundly. Rick felt a twinge of sadness as he watched her. They had been up half of the night arguing. She told him that she unsure about them, that she didn't know if she could handle being married to him any longer. She said that he didn't care anything about her anymore.

Rick cared about her, he knew that much, but she had put him through so much, he wasn't entirely sure if he loved her anymore. Grimacing slightly, he stood up and walked over to the chest of drawers that was pushed against the bright white wall right beside the bathroom. He grabbed his clean uniform that was laying, folded crisply on the shiny wooden top. Walking the short distance to the master bathroom, a good sized white room with a newly renovated walk-in shower, he proceeded to get ready for the rest of the day.

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

Carl was sitting in the overstuffed leather lazy boy, munching on a pop tart as Rick walked into the living room. He looked up at him expectantly and Rick just nodded. "I'll drop you off before I head to work."

Rick had purposely left their shared cruiser with Shane the night before so he could give his son a ride, since dropping children off at school wasn't technically company policy. His son smiled, blue eyes glowing in excitement. Rick felt the corners of his lips tug up at the look in his eyes. He really needed to start watching out for Carl more. He felt as though he barely knew his son.

_*****Carol Peletier*****_

She woke up on the lumpy mattress that the crummy apartment had come with. Dim light was shining through the thinly covered windows. It was time to get up, and because she was leery of loud noises, the thunderstorm that had rumbled in the night before had kept her up almost all night. Every time thunder would rumble, she would snap awake, terrified that Ed had come home drunk and angry at her for something that she didn't even do. She felt terrible, but that couldn't stop her.

Sophia was coming home that day, and since she had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, she would be able to spend some time with her angel. She looked at the cheep alarm clock that the landlord was so gracious to put in there. Through the scratched plastic screen, she could just make out the numbers; it said 7:53 in blinking red lights. Rolling on to her back and pushing herself forward so that she was sitting up with her legs crossed under the thin blanket that she had taken from the other house, she sighed. Other than a few basic items, she had left everything behind, knowing that it was better than having him come to her work and raising hell over her taking things that 'his' money had bought.

As she pushed the blanket off her and got to her feet, she began to question her judgement over the past thirteen or so years, back to when she first met him. Falling for his fake charm, which, when she looked back at it, wasn't all that charming. There had been plenty of other friendly guys around, a few that had even flirted with her, but no, she had to go and accept Ed's invitation for a date. Ed's actions had made her question the goodness of people in the world, but she knew now that some people were okay. Daryl Dixon, a quiet redneck with a loud ass for a brother, had shown her that.

_**~~TWD D/C TWD~~**_

Not twenty minutes later, she was out the door and ready to go. She was on the bottom floor of her apartment complex, and when she looked out, she was actually graced with a view of the park. That was a good thing, she figured once Sophia was healed, and even before that, she would be itching to go to the park. Heck, she might even make a few friends other than Carl Grimes. She smiled at the thought of the young boy that Sophia was obviously so smitten with.

Her car was parked beside a green fenced in square, which she knew concealed the dumpster. It had been the only space available the previous night, and it was not a desirable one. The stomach turning smell of rotten food permeated through the air, getting more and more potent as she walked closer to her car. Grimacing slightly, she unlocked the car and quickly got it. Turning on her car, she quickly pulled out and away, ready to go and see her daughter.

She looked at her gas gauge as she was driving down one of the various tree lined, bumpy side roads that the town had to offer, and realized that the meter was almost past the red E tick mark. If she didn't get gas soon, she would run out. Thankfully Morales' was just around the corner.

She felt her engine stuttering as she pulled beside one of the gas pumps, telling her that she had been lucky. Sighing in relief, because there was no telling where Ed was lurking, she turned the car off and got out. She took a twenty out of her purse, biting her lip as she did some mental math. After a moment, she felt her face morph into a grimace because one hundred eighty dollars would have to get them through the week, and Sophia needed supplies. She figured if she could make it through the week, things might get better.

She walked inside of the store, and saw something that made her want to bolt out of the establishment and run all the way to the other side of town to get her gas, but she knew that she wouldn't make it. Ed was sitting at too shiny green and purple booth at the other side of the store. His back was thankfully to her, and she prayed that she would be able to get in and get out before anything happened. The line contained three people, all of them had food and drinks in their hands, and Morales was the one manning the cash register. He was talking quietly to an elderly man about the weather, smiling slightly as he walked out away from the counter.

Carol glanced nervously at Ed, and felt herself become nauseated. The man's beady eyes were unabashedly focused on her. His face held the look of victory, and Carol saw him scoot to the edge of the booth. She wondered if she should try and make a break for the car, not that she could get very far even if she did, or was she safer inside. The answer came with the annoying bell on the top of the door. She saw Ed's eyes flicker behind her, and his bruised face morphed into one of revulsion.

Despite her fear of Ed, she casted a quick glance behind her and realized why her soon to be ex husband looked so distraught. Daryl Dixon had walked inside the establishment. His blue eyes scanned the room, something they always seemed to do before he went too far into any spot, and seemed to take in the scene for what it was. He narrowed them and his eyebrows scrunched together in a look of glaring distaste. "Hello, Carol," he greeted after a moment, startling her, but she heard the message that he was sending Ed's way loud and clear: 'Bother her, and I'm gonna stomp your ass.'

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ed glare at them like a cat who had just gotten doused in water, before turning back around. She smiled warmly at him as she moved up slightly in line. "Hey, Daryl, have you figured out anything about your truck?"

He sighed and shook his head, his eyes constantly flickering toward Ed. She smiled at how kind he was being toward her...protective even. She wondered what she had done to deserve this kind of treatment from someone so reserved.

"No," he finally said as his eyes flitted back to hers. "Its the rusty one out in the parking lot. Morales is letting me keep it here until I can figure out what to do. Better than paying the towing bill, I guess."

She moved up in line, and smiled at Morales. "Twenty on pump two, please."

"Carol," Morales reprimanded. "You don't have to pay. You're watching Eliza this Sunday, it's the least I can do."

"She and Sophie are friends," Carol said, placing her hands on her hips, "I hardly call a sleepover watching her."

"Its our anniversary Sunday, though, you're saving us from getting a babysitter," he smiled at her, "I won't take your money, because you refuse to take mine. Go and get thirty in your tank. I insist."

Carol knew that she needed to pinch every penny that she had, but she felt as though she was taking charity. She hated feeling like a charity case. Daryl was silent through the whole exchange, but finally he said, "Go on, and take it, Carol. He's stubborn, won't take no for an answer."

Carol sighed, knowing that Daryl was right. That didn't mean that she had to like it. "Fine," she said, mock glaring at Morales, "Don't make a habit out of this."

Morales gave her a crooked smile and smartly said, "Yes ma'am."

Carol walked out of the store to put the gas into her car, humming a random tune softly as she did so. She was so distracted that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. "He your boyfriend now?" Ed's cold voice rang from beside her.

Jumping slightly, she turned around to look at him. "No," she said calmly. "He's a friend. You never really let me have those, figured I'd take advantage of the freedom."

Ed scowled an ugly scowl as he walked forward a step, coming closer than she appreciated.

"I think it's time for you to go, Edward," she said seriously, hating how scared she was.

"You may think you're all high and mighty," he sneered, his eyes narrowing almost into slits, "but I will knock you on your ass and bring you back down to earth, just 'cause we gettin' a divorce don' mean shit."

"You wanna touch her," a scarily cold voice came from the other side of her, "you're gonna have to get through me firs'."

Carol felt a sense of security washing over her. A large hand set itself on her shoulder, and pulled her back gently. She found herself staring at a leather vest with angel wings on the back. She found it fitting. Daryl was like a guardian angel, just rougher around the edges than specifically ideal. His muscular shoulders were tensed up and his stance was openly hostile.

"Why don' you keep your nose out of it, ya dumb hick?" Ed sneered. "She says you're not fuckin' her, I don' see why you care what I do to her."

"'Cause ya don' hit women," Daryl growled.

"That thing isn't a woman," Ed said, his upper lip curling in distaste. "It's a bitch. I don't hit women."

Daryl walked forward angrily. "Yeah, jackass?" he barked, "I hit bitches too."

He raised his hand, and Carol acted without thinking, grabbing his hand and stepping around him at the same time. Seeing Ed cower in obvious fear made her feel much better, but she knew that she couldn't let Daryl go though anymore trouble than he already had because of her. "Leave it, he's not worth it."

"The hell it ain't," Daryl exclaimed. "Do ya hear what he's sayin' 'bout ya? An' ya jus' wan' me ta let 'im go?"

"That's exactly what I want," she said quietly, not missing the growl that emitted from deep in Daryl's throat. Her breath hitched slightly, feeling weary of the two angry men, but Daryl seemed to snap at of it as he observed her obvious distress.

He nodded at her curtly, and looked at Ed, "Yer lucky she's a better person than I am, 'else I'd have knocked ya on yer ass."

Ed didn't say anything to Daryl, preferring to bully Carol instead. "You'll come crawlin' back to me eventually. An' I'm gonna just slam the door in yer face. You and yer little bitch can stay the hell away from me!"

Carol stiffened her jaw forcefully, making herself seem unfazed by his outburst. She watched him turn around and stalk away from the pair. Carol let out an audible sigh of relief as he stomped back into the store. Taking the gas pump out of the car and putting it up, she realized that her hands were shaking. Daryl seemed to realize something was wrong with her, because he looked down at her, biting on his bottom lip in what seemed to be a nervous manner.

She took a shaky breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes as she did so. "Do you have anywhere you need to go?" she asked him. "Because I don't mind taking you anywhere. The least I could do."

Daryl looked at her for a moment and said, "I couldn't impose on ya,"

"It's not imposing if I ask," she informed him. "And you live a few miles away from here, and I know you walked. I insist. It's what friends do."

Daryl looked at her with a raised eyebrow, his expression unreadable.

"Besides, if I run into Ed again, I'm gonna need my bodyguard," Carol said only half jokingly.

That earned her an amused stare. "I guess," he sighed, scratching the back of his head for a moment. "I won't be intrudin' on any of yet plans, righ'?"

"Not at all," Carol assured him.

Daryl seemed to give in completely after that, moving to the passenger side and getting in. "It's a good thing Ed hits like a little bitch," he informed her.

"Why is that?" Carol questioned as she turned the key in the ignition, causing the car to come to life.

"'Cause if that bruise on yer jaw was any bigger, I wouldn't have let you stop me," he said. His voice was normal as if he was talking about the weather, and that was what made his attitude so unnerving. She knew he was completely serious.

Her pocket began vibrating after a second of silence between the two of them. She didn't even take time to look at the number before flipping the phone open and putting it against her ear. "Hello?"

"This is Dr. Wilson," the voice on the other side of the line greeted. "Sophia is ready to go anytime now. We'll discharge her as soon as you come to pick her up."

"Okay," Carol said, nodding even though the action was pointless, "I'll be right up."

Daryl looked at her for a moment before saying, "Go on, I'll walk." He moved to open the door, but Carol spoke up, her voice coming out much more stern than usual.

"Don't you dare," she said severely. Daryl's hand paused in midair as he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is there anywhere you need to be at a specific time? Anything you need done immediately?"

Daryl shook his head, "Too wet to go huntin', and its gonna rain again, I was jus' gonna head over to Merle's, but I forgot that he had a...lady friend come over las' night."

"Well, if you don't mind tagging along, I need to go and get my daughter out of the hospital," she informed him, "then I can take you anywhere you wanna go."

"That's goin' way too far out of yer way," Daryl protested. "It's really not that far of a-"

"Don't lie to me," Carol said, "I can drive you home first if you want, I imagine Soph-"

"She's not waitin'," Daryl sighed. "If yer really gonna be this stubborn, go and get yer little girl firs'."

"Are you sure?" Carol asked, not wanting him to be forced to waste so much of his day on her plans. "Because-"

"Completely sure, ain't got nuthin' better to do," Daryl shrugged "'Sides, I kinda wanna know what I was savin' yer little girl from."

***Sigh* Daryl seriously hates Ed. Just wait and see what happens when he sees the state of Sophia. And in case anyone is curious, the walkers will be showing up soon. And Michonne will too.**

**You're all awesome readers! Leave a review on your way out. Suggestions and ideas are always welcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclamer: If I owned TWD, I would own a lot more than just a shirt, wallet, and bracelet dedicated to Daryl Dixon...**

_***Daryl Dixon***_

He had to force a friendly smile on his face as he walked into the child's hospital room behind Carol. She had shoulder length blonde hair, green-blue eyes, and freckles dotting her face. She was adorable. Daryl wasn't the type to think of anything as _adorable_, and if Merle knew what he was thinking, he'd ride his ass about it, but there was no other way to describe her. She looked completely innocent as she beamed up at her mother.

What caused him to force his smile was the rest of her. She had a large bruise on her left cheek, and a hand shaped bruise on her throat. Her left arm was in a pink cast covered in black sharpie drawn pictures.

Her eyes flickered to him for a moment before looking back at her mother questioningly. Carol gave her daughter a smile and said, "Daryl, this is Sophia, Sophia, this is Daryl Dixon."

Her eyes got wide and she looked at him, "Maggie said that you were the one that kicked my dad's..." she trailed off, her eyes even wider, and Daryl had to fight to keep a straight face. The girl had clearly almost cussed in front of her mama. Clearly not a good idea on her part.

Carol shot her a brief reprimanding look before shaking her head slightly and sighing quietly.

"That's me," he told her, unable to keep the smirk off his face any longer. "Ya look mighty comfortable in that bed o' yers."

"I am," she told him animatedly, a smile returning to her face. "It's so cool! The nurses are so nice here, they let me use the phone and call mommy last night!"

So happy over something as insignificant as a phone call. She really was innocent, and pure. He felt rage begin to simmer deep inside of him again. Not that it had been completely gone, but this little girl had taken a beating because her father was too much of a pussy to take his anger out on a person strong enough to fight back. It reminded him too much of his childhood, though Carol was doing more for her little girl than his mother ever did for him.

"That's great," Daryl told her, regretting that he didn't have any nieces or nephews to be around. He might know how to treat an eleven year old if he had. The only thing that he knew was how his father had treated him at eleven. He figured numerous beatings with a belt that had a broken buckle wasn't the way to go. Besides, he figured that Sophia had gotten similar beatings from Ed and wasn't too keen on another one.

"Well sweetie, are you ready to go?" Carol asked, favoring her daughter with a warm smile. The same one he had been greeted with for the past two days.

She nodded vigorously, an excited light illuminating her blue eyes, "I wanna see our new home!"

He saw a pained expression pass over Carol's features and suddenly felt as though he was intruding on a family moment. "I'll jus' go an' wait by the car..." he muttered.

"No need to," Carol told him quickly, her expression the normal cheery one that she always seemed to have on. "Actually, I'd like it if you'd sit here with her for a moment while I go and fill out the paperwork at the desk."

Daryl felt slightly nervous. She wanted him to babysit? He wasn't sure what to say, so he just nodded and Carol walked out of the room. He leaned against the wall beside the door and crossed his arms, looking anywhere but at the small girl on the bed that was staring at him. He felt antsy. If Sophia was a guy, things might have been easier; he would at least be comfortable with broaching any topic of conversation with them. Normally he didn't care about filling up silence, but he was trying his damnedest to be polite to the small child and her nice mother and he didn't even know why!

It was possible that he empathized with both of them, having actually been in Sophia's shoes, and watched his own mother being thrown around like a ragdoll. He chewed nervously on his bottom lip as he racked his brain for something to say. Anything! Merle shockingly, was the conversationalist, Daryl was the quiet one.

"Are you good at fixin' cars?" Sophia said out of the blue, causing poor Daryl to flinch at the sudden noise.

She looked down, apparently thinking that she had done something wrong. _Way to go, Dixon_, Daryl thought wryly, _tense up at an abused child, that's always a good idea._ Aloud, he said, "Guess so, been doin' it since I was sixteen."

"How old are you now?" she questioned her head tilting to the side slightly.

Daryl smirked at the girl's inquisitiveness. "Seventeen."

"You can't be seventeen!" Sophia exclaimed.

Daryl raised an amused eyebrow. "Really? Why not?"

"You don't look seventeen," she informed him smartly, sitting straight up, and putting her hands on her hips, looking creepily like her mama.

"Ya got me," Daryl informed her, managing to keep a straight face as he talked. "I'm eighteen."

The child looked at him with an exasperated expression, before shaking her head as if saying _adults are silly_. "No, really," she urged.

Daryl almost cracked, but before he could, Carol walked back inside, cutting the conversation completely off. Carol looked in between the two of them suspiciously before training her eyes on Sophia. "Alright, honey, let's get you dressed and get going."

Sophia carefully got out of the bed, and Daryl saw her shins and calves, which the thin hospital gown did not cover. They were covered in bruises, all raging from black and blue to green and purple. He imagined the rest of her was just as bad. He didn't bother to hide the grimace on his face, unlike Carol, who had an obviously practiced mask of calm on. He had to swallow the almost uncontrollable wave of anger that he was nearly vibrating inwardly with.

"Let me go outside," Daryl muttered, his eyes casted downward; his fists clenched in anger. He felt his breath shorten as Ed's face came into his mind; there wasn't a doubt about who put her in the hospital. Daryl also knew that there wasn't a doubt in his mind about what he would do to Ed the next time he saw him.

He didn't wait for a reply as he walked out, going out of his way to not slam the door like the anger rushing like fire through his tensed arms wanted to do. Not willing to wait for the elevator, he stalked toward the stairs, swearing under his breath.

As soon as he hit the sunlight, he took off in a run toward the forest that was right behind the establishment. When he was safely concealed in the shadows of the trees, he allowed the shaking rage to come out. He paced back and forth jerkily, unsure of what to do. Part of him wanted to go and hide in the woods away from all of the troubles that the family was going through, and another, much larger part of him wanted to go, find Ed, and beat him within an inch of his life. Both parts lost, however, because the largest part of him knew what he _needed_ to do.

Hauling off and punching the rough bark of the large pine tree next to him, he pulled himself together...at least partially together. He knew there was no way he was in good enough condition to be near Carol or Sophia. If he saw any more bruises on either of them, which he was sure there were plenty of injuries to be found, he would completely flip.

He put his back against the tree that he had split his knuckles against and slid down to the forest floor, most likely cutting himself up, but he was too distraught to care. Vivid images from his past were flying through his mind; pictures of his father slapping his mother so harshly that she crashed into the stove, hot water spilling all over her arm. The thought of his brother being slashed with a knife in the back because he didn't gut a squirrel the right way. He could still taste the blood as his father knocked two of his baby molars out of his mouth when he was only six because he had tried helping his mother off the floor after she had taken one hell of a beating.

"Daryl?" Carol's soft voice sounded the direction of the hospital. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry that you had to-"

"Don't," he cut her off, his voice coming out much harsher than normal. "I don't wanna hear another damn apology from ya, woman. This ain't yer fault."

"Don't tell me what isn't my fault, Daryl," Carol said quietly, coming into his line of sight from behind the covering of the trees. Her eyes were shiny and she was obviously refraining from crying, but they also held something else, something he hadn't seen before. There was a fire blazing behind them, one that had apparently taken a while to start up, but it was burning brightly all the same. "It is my fault. That's my little girl, and I failed her! She's broken thanks to her father and my inability to protect her!"

Daryl stood up slowly and glowered at her. "Protect her from a man that's over three times yer size? How the fuck did you plan on doing that, woman?"

"It's not your problem, Daryl," Carol said. "I'll find a way of protecting her from Ed, if it's the last thing I do."

Daryl found himself calming down slightly as he looked at her, his breathing and heartbeat going down to a normal rate. He was still glaring, but nowhere near as harshly. She was twice the woman his mother had been. Carol hadn't left her daughter to fend for herself against her father while she stayed in bed, too drunk to do anything but fall asleep with a cigarette in her hand. She had obviously taken beatings, probably more than twice what as meant for her just so her daughter wouldn't have to.

His respect for Carol had steadily risen. She was brave as hell; much braver than he had been against his father.

_****Carol Peletier***_

She saw Daryl's chest begin to rise and fall more steadily. Thank God he was calming down. He had been quiet for a few minutes, and she was questioning her motive for coming after him. She knew why. Daryl was the first man since her own daddy that had been so kind and attentive to her. Ed had only been attentive when he was administering bruises; he was sure to put them in places that no one would see, or no one would question.

"Where's yer little girl?" Daryl asked, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides. It was obvious that he was still angry, but he wasn't as pissed as he had been ten minutes ago.

"She's waiting in the car," Carol informed him quietly, the feeling of bravery that had come over her was starting to fade quickly, and she realized how foolish she was for thinking that she could actually offer any protection for Sophia. She couldn't even protect herself. "I saw you stalking over to the forest from the window, and when I had her up in the backseat, I figured I'd come back and see if you still wanted that ride.

A half smile came to his face, giving him a sarcastic edge that made him seem just possibly related to his brother. "Don' have a choice, do I? 'Cause I'm sure you'd rip my head off, and you would be out of a bodyguard. Can't let that happen."

Carol blinked at the sudden shift in his mood, curious as to what he had been thinking about since he had become silent. She allowed a genuine smile to come to her face as she answered him, "That's right, mister, let's go before Sophia comes out and starts searching for us."

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

Sophia had been in a chatty mood in the car, asking Daryl hundreds of small, pointless questions. She had never known her daughter to take to anyone, much less a man, so quickly. Daryl answered most of them, others, mostly about his childhood, he skirted around, shifting uncomfortably in the leather passenger seat until she changed the subject. Carol had remained mostly silent, answering a question from her daughter whenever asked, opting to enjoy her daughter's joy while she could.

Daryl was still obviously tense from earlier, and Carol had no idea what to do. Was he mad at Ed for hitting Sophie? At her for letting it happen? She figured that he was most likely angry with himself for getting entangled with her troubles. Her eyes flickered from the road to him every few seconds, old habits making her tense as well. It was hard to unlearn the mentality that when a man was pissed off, a beating followed soon, if not immediately, after.

"Can we listen to some music?" Sophia asked. "He broke my headphones..."

Carol complied, hating how Sophia's voice became graver as the thought of her father crossed her mind. She turned the radio up, but instead of songs, a voice was speaking. "..._CDC has found a new virus and the sickness is spreading quickly. It causes person to become unresponsive, and incredibly violent. The people have become cannibalistic. The researchers have went so far as to nickname it the 'Zombie Epidemic.' If you believe you have been exposed, please go to the nearest medical facility_..."

Carol blinked and her eyebrows scrunched together, feeling slightly worried and amused at the same time. "Zombie Epidemic? Huh, sure it isn't just moody kids?"

Carol allowed her eyes to stray to the rearview mirror, where she could see Sophia looking at the radio exasperatedly, wanting the man to shut up and the singers to start singing. Sighing, she turned the station, and heard the same recording. Frowning, she tried all of Sophia's favorites, all while still looking up at the road, and realized that every one of them had the same message. Finally, she sighed, giving up. Pressing the off button, the monotone voice was cut off in mid sentence.

Silence only rang through the air for maybe half a second before a shrill ring cut through it, causing them all to flinch. "I need to change that stupid ass ringtone," Daryl muttered to himself as he pulled his phone out of the right side pocket of his faded black jeans.

He frowned deeply at the number on the front before answering. "Hello?"

He was silent as the other person spoke, she could faintly hear a voice, but it was like a constant buzz of noise, nothing she could actually make out, but judging from the sour expression on Daryl's face, it was nothing good. Then suddenly his eyebrows rose and he blinked, his sour expression was replaced with an impressed one.

"You're sure the stupid fuck went to the hospital?" he finally asked.

More buzzing from the other line, and Daryl's face went back into the normal neutral mask. "At this rate, my truck's gonna stay at Morales' as a damn parking lot ornament."

The response managed to earn an eye roll from the youngest Dixon. He rubbed his face in his hands and sighed, "Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can."

As soon as he hung up, Carol asked, "Where do I need to drop you off at?"

"Nowhere Sophia needs to go," he replied.

"I'm old enough to go anywhere," Sophia protested heatedly. "I'm gonna be twelve soon!"

Carol pulled to the side of the road, and turned the car off. She crossed her arms and said, "Daryl, just tell me where, I'll drop you off near there, but won't go to the actual place if you want."

"Merle got arrested," Daryl finally muttered.

Carol frowned. "What happened?"

"He..." he turned around and looked at Sophia worriedly. Whatever it was, he was afraid to mention it in front of her daughter. "He finished what I started yesterday."

Carol sighed. Ed was obviously getting what was coming to him. "I wish I had enough money to help-"

Daryl just shook his head, "I have enough. I was gonna end up goin' to jail over him eventually. Merle just saved me the trouble."

"How does finishing something cause you to go to jail?" Sophia inquired curiously from the back.

"When assholes are involved, anything can send you to jail," Carol said through clenched teeth, obviously startling both passengers with her use of profanity.

**I just love you guys! Your reviews made me wanna jump up and down excitedly...and that would look as strange as Daryl doing it. Just sayin'. Anyways, guess what's looming on the horizon! Other than a very hurt Ed that is... Oh, and does anyone know Daryl's parents' names? If not, any idea of good red neck asshole names?**

**I hope you didn't find Daryl to be OOC with Sophia...he always struck me as a smartass with a soft spot for children. All the more reason to love him.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: If I owned TWD, there would be more shirtless Daryl scenes...**

_***Merle Dixon***_

He smiled as Shane Walsh sauntered into his holding cell. Had to love assholes.

"Somethin' funny?" Shane inquired, his arms crossed as he observed him in the same manner Merle observed a rat.

"Nothin' really," Merle said, leaning against the cold grey brick wall. "Jus' wondering how much of an asshole someone has to be for _me_ to be able to call them one. 'Cause, man you the biggest fuckin' jackass I know."

"Ya know, Dixon, I could jus' keep ya here for harassing an officer," Shane said. His voice was level, but Merle could hear the condescending tone he had, and it irked the shit out of him.

"Go ahead," he shrugged, allowing a sarcastic smirk to spread across his face. "Never thought you had a crush on me, but I can see ya love my company...then again, what would officer Friendly's bitch think 'bout that?"

Shane's olive toned skin suddenly seemed to be fresh out of color, going almost completely white. "What the hell are ya talkin' about, ya fuckin' piece o' white trash?"

"I think ya know what I'm talkin' 'bout..." Merle said smiling sarcastically at him. "Does officer Friendly know y'all are bumpin' uglies-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Shane thundered, his hands curling into fists.

"Hey, man," Merle said shrugging, as he pulled his trademark smirk off, "all the power to ya. Go fuck her right now if ya wanna. Jus' do a common courtesy and let me the fuck outta here."

Shane looked at Merle, his lip curled in undisguised distaste. "Yer brother and Carol are here to get yer sorry ass out."

Carol? Merle raised an eyebrow at Shane in surprise. Normally Daryl was the only one to grace Merle with his presence when he had been released. That Carol lady must really have hated Ed if she was staying around the two brothers that had both kicked his ass in less than twenty-four hours. "'Least it's someone better lookin' than your ugly ass," he quipped as he stood up.

Shane tensed slightly, as if he was waiting for Merle to attack him. Fat chance of that happening. Merle may have had one hell of a reputation as a dumb hick, but even he wasn't enough of a dumbass to hit Shane inside of a cell when he was seconds from being free enough to grab a beer and wait for Ed to start causing trouble again. People could say a lot about Merle, but they couldn't say that he didn't care about his baby brother, and no one, especially no damn woman beater, was gonna talk shit about him. Hopefully Ed's dislocated jaw was enough to teach him a lesson...probably not.

Merle just settled for a taunting smile, knowing that it would piss him off more than anything else. "Ya ready to go, officer Dumbass?"

Shane curled his lip in anger at Merle while he kept on smiling away. Blackmail was dishonest and dirty...perfect for the piece of shit that was standing next to him. It was something that Shane would understand completely.

_****Daryl Dixon****_

He watched his brother strut out of the thick back door with Shane, who looked as though Merle had just slapped his grandmother. He had to fight to keep his face straight. Damn Merle was always causing trouble; Daryl had learned to accept that long ago, hell at times like these it was great entertainment. Shane really needed to pull that stick outta his ass. At that thought, a corner of his lips raised in an involuntary smile.

Shane snarled at the look on Daryl's face, probably taking it as insolence...if he only knew how right he was. "Wipe that shit eatin' grin off her face an' keep this asshole outta trouble!"

"Yer awfully uptight, officer Dumbass," Merle drawled as he walked to stand in between Daryl and Carol. "Ya need to go and see-"

"Damn it, Merle, shut up!" Daryl snapped, not wanting to go to jail because he had to back Merle up in a fight against the law. There would be no bail after that.

"Damn, little brother," Merle said tauntingly. "Don't get yer panties in a bunch, I'll talk all good an' proper in front of yer lady friend."

That seemed to earn a smile out of Carol, who spoke up, "And here I thought I was your lady friend, Merle."

Merle barked a laugh before shaking his head. "You've got spirit. 'The hell you doin' with tha' douchebag anyways? Little brother's antisocial ass could o' used yer company a long time ago."

Daryl felt heat creeping to his face as he resisted the urge to knock him on his ass in the middle of the police station, though he imagined all Shane would do would be eat popcorn and record the event. "Let's go, jackass," Daryl muttered, refusing to meet Carol's eyes as he turned around and walked out. Merle followed right behind him, mumbling something about killjoys.

Daryl was suddenly glad that Carol had taken Sophia over to Maggie's house. She was taking a weeklong vacation to her father's farm, taking Beth, who was just visiting the middle of nowhere, back. Carol figured that Sophia would have been delighted to help them pack up, and Maggie and Beth had both looked positively delighted to have her over. They were excited at the chance to babysit for free...he would never understand women. All he knew was that the girls were better company than his brother for the eleven year old; if Daryl had a 'potty mouth', as she had called it while they were heading to Maggie's, he would hate to know what she would call Merle...probably the whole damn sewer.

_*****Rick Grimes*****_

When he got home early, he didn't expect to see Lori sitting in their living room, legs crossed, hands clasped tightly in her lap. She looked as though she was looking for strength to do something, and Rick had a sickening feeling he knew what it was. "Rick," Lori said quietly, looking at him with a solemn expression, "we need to talk."

Rick suddenly felt nauseated and tired. He and a few other officers had gotten a call because Andy, the local farmer's market operator, had complained about some lunatic taking a chunk out of his shoulder. When Rick had gotten to the scene, he saw that Andy had locked himself in his office as a filthy man he'd never seen before was scratching on the door.

He and Shane had been forced to kill the man, and the terrible thought was still on his conscience. Andy had been taken up to the hospital, and he had went home soon after. In his mind's eye, he saw Lori smiling and greeting him when he got home, maybe she would have supper ready for him, and some words of comfort. It was absolutely nothing like that. He knew what Lori was going to talk about, and, if he was being honest with himself, he didn't give a damn anymore.

"Get the papers whenever," Rick sighed, feeling lighter than when he had stepped inside. "I'll sign them if that's what you want. I'm sick of fighting for this marriage when you clearly don't want it."

Not even looking at her, he walked to the guest room and laid down, resolving to go out and buy some supper when he woke up. At least now he didn't have to lie to Lori about how bad her cooking was. Laughing to himself about how that was the only thought running through his head, he passed out. The only dreams he had were of the man he had to shoot in the head earlier that day.

_******Daryl Dixon******_

Carol pulled on to the beaten up path of the dirt road leading up to his house. Merle was still in the back, because Dale had called Daryl almost immediately after they had gotten out of the station, insisting that he needed to speak with the two of them and that he was waiting at Daryl's. When they pulled into the driveway, Dale was standing there leaning against Daryl's rusty truck and grinning. What the hell was the vehicle doing out of Morales'?

"Whacha need ole man?" Daryl inquired.

"Well, son," Dale sighed. "The way I see it is that the two of you have the worst luck, and you both've pull off some pretty great miricals at the garage. I know you've been having some troubles with that truck of yours and Jim over here has just started feeling better." Daryl just noticed Jim sitting in the driver's seat of his truck, and suddenly Daryl started feeling weary. "We checked it over, and gave it a bit of a tune up for ya."

"How much did it cost?" Daryl asked, unwilling to be in their debt. "I'll work it-"

"You'll do no such thing," Dale cut him off, frowning slightly. "Its a gift from friends."

"I ain't takin' no charity," Daryl said, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Goodness, Daryl, it isn't charity," Dale exclaimed. "You've been helping me at the garage since you stumbled out of the woods when you were nine! Consider it payment for all those years you were too young for me to pay you. I'm not accepting a cent from you, though. And I'm not telling you the price either."

Daryl felt strange. He swallowed, his throat feeling suddenly dry. He wasn't used to any amount of kindness from anyone. Finally, he just looked at Dale and nodded, "Thank you."

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

The barbeque was...nice. It was loud, people were laughing, children were running around, screaming in laughter, and everyone was gathering around to greet the guests of honor. Amy, Andrea, and their friend Michonne.

Andrea and Amy were both tall blondes. They seemed friendly enough, smiling and laughing politely every time Dale told a corny joke. Michonne was a beautiful woman with soft brown skin and an air of grace about her. She had her hair pulled back, out of her face, with a cloth headband. Her expression was unreadable most of the time, but she smiled and spoke softly whenever someone talked directly to her.

Daryl was standing quietly beside Merle, who was hitting on Andrea, trying not to vomit by the innuendos that his brother kept throwing out. Andrea only laughed, replying with own, a few of them possibly more vulgar than his brothers. He quickly looked around the yard for something to distract him. All he wanted was an excuse to leave before things got worse than it already was. Damn perverts.

He saw Sophia running with Morales' kid...he thought her name was Eliza, but he wasn't sure. She was shrieking and laughing while Rick's kid, Carl, and Jim's sons were chasing them. Every time they would get too close to the pool, their mothers would yell at them to get out of the way, and they would take off toward the large field that was Dale's backyard. Sophia looked so happy, Daryl almost couldn't tell that Ed had done anything to her...almost. He could still see the bruises on her face and neck, and the slight limp that she walked with was a telltale sign as well.

He felt bad for the child, but figured that her mama was gonna give her one hell of a good life. Part of him, a part that he wasn't willing to admit, even to himself, wanted to watch her grow up. It wanted to protect her from the world; more importantly it wanted to make sure she didn't end up like him, completely terrified of human contact.

"Daryl!" T-Dog's voice rang from beside Dale's RV. Daryl casted him a grateful glance before rushing toward him. The larger man casted him a sly grin, leaning against the mobile home, and nodded toward what seemed to be a mass of people that were on the main road, which they could view clearly from Dale's yard, because there was only a field corn, which wasn't even growing at that time of year, between them and it. "Ya know if there's a parade today?"

"Nah, man. Not that I know of," he replied quietly, crossing his arms as he squinted his eyes as he tried to zero in on what exactly the dumbasses on the road were doing. "Ya here that screaming?"

"They seem to be havin' fun," T-Dog observed curiously.

Daryl wasn't so sure. There seemed to be hundreds of them, they all seemed to be running in different directions like ants. And those screams weren't the same kind that the children were shrieking with in the backyard. "I don't know, man..."

A car pulling into the yard distracted both of them momentarily. Sirens were flashing and a man with blonde hair and a matching bristly mustache got out and ran past the two of them without so much of a side glance. It was fine with Daryl, he didn't like the law all that much anyway.

"Rick, Shane," the man said as he got to the two men, who were talking to Morales and Amy, breathing heavily. "The town's gone insane, we need you two on duty now!"

Rick looked around at everyone and finally nodded, "Carl, listen to your mother. Lori, don't leave here."

Lori looked at him with a stiff jaw, but didn't say anything. She nodded after they seemed to have a silent argument, which apparently she lost.

With all of the uneasiness, he was happy that he had went hunting that morning because his crossbow and buck knife were still sitting in his truck. For some strange reason, he knew that he was going to need to use them.

**I think I could live off your reviews! How was Merle? Hopefully he added some comic relief, ya know...'cause he's awesome by association to Daryl lol. Can anyone guess what's going on? Lol I know I can! Also, when I get to that point, does anyone mind me skimming over the first season, making the necessary adjustments, of course. And has anyone got a specific part of the season that they would like to see, or like to see altered? And lastly: any idea for a more justified death for Ed at the Quarry?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: if I owned TWD, Daryl and Tyreese would have switched places, and Daryl would be in a group with Carol instead of those loons right now.**

_***Daryl Dixon***_

He didn't know what to think as the first person came stumbling into the yard. Rick and Shane had been gone for at least ten minutes and the children and woman had all been ushered into the house. He, Jim, Dale, Merle, and T-Dog were all standing outside on the porch. Whoever it was looked as though he had a few too many shots at the local bar. He tripped over the sidewalk edge and rolled onto the soft green grass.

In the fading light, Daryl could make out a dark red substance coating the ground as the man stumbled to his feet. A strangled moan came from his mouth as he lurched forward. Daryl stepped off the porch immediately, waving his brother off his back as he went. There was no need for any help, the guy was obviously shit faced, and the closer they all were to their families, the quicker they could all help them get out if needed. When he was close enough to almost touch him, he said, "Don't know where ya think ya are, but ya need to carry ya drunk ass somewhere else."

Instead of getting a slurry reply, he only received another moan, and this time the man jumped for him. Daryl didn't think as he reacted, jumping out of the way and pushing the side of the man as hard as he could. The drunk landed on the ground with a thud. "Good one, baby brother!" Merle cheered from the porch.

Daryl gritted his teeth at Merle's stupidity and turned back around to face the drunken asshole. "Hey, jackass," he snapped, "this is the last time I'm gonna tell ya ta get the fuck outta here!"

There was only another moan, and the man pushed himself up with his arm and grabbed a hold of his leg. He opened his mouth widely and leaned forward, obviously intending on trying to bite at Daryl's calf. Acting on instinct, he swiped his foot to the side, catching the drunk on the side of the head. He heard, and felt the sound of his neck snapping. Daryl snatched his ankle from the now dead man's grip and backed up slightly.

He grimaced at the guy, and felt a small sense of panic. He just killed a man. Daryl was a lot of things, but he wasn't a murderer. He looked down at the man, a sense of guilt filling him up. Why couldn't the dumb fuck just go off somewhere else? He remembered the radio broadcast that they had heard on the radio the day before. Before he could tell anyone about it, the man at his feet started moving again.

"What the fuck?" Daryl yelped. Unsure of what else to do, he unsheathed his buck knife and watched as the man stumbled to his feet, his head sitting on a strange angle on its neck. He waved his knife in his face, hoping to give him a damn hint to back the hell off. He didn't catch the memo, however. As the man sprung forward again, Daryl drove his knife into his skull, causing him to immediately collapse to the ground.

He saw that the others were all halfway into the yard, almost to him as he turned around. Daryl took deep breath in to compose himself before speaking calmly to the others. "Get inside, all o' y'all. We've got a problem."

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

He looked at all of the terrified faces around him, and felt nervous. He didn't like people looking at him, and now the only people that he knew for a fact were still uninfected with the illness were all staring his way, scared senseless, because he was the only person with any idea of what to do. He looked at Carol, who was clutching Sophia tightly to her side. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at him desperately for guidance. That gave him the reassurance he needed to keep going.

"Alrigh'," Daryl said, glancing around at all of the people that were in the room. Most of them were women and children, and very few of them were anything other than housewives. He had a feeling that Michonne could take care of herself just fine, which was a relief, he could use all of the skill he could get. "It isn't safe here. We need to get out before someone gets hurt."

"What are you talking about?" Lori demanded, sounding angry. "You're starting to scare the children!"

Daryl scowled at her, his already short temper was currently nonexistent. "Good," he snapped, "they need to be scared! It'll stop 'em from doin' somethin' stupid!"

Lori cowered in the corner beside Andrea and Amy, holding Carl. "Now there's somethin' wrong with them people in the town. I heard some broadcast over the radio yesterday-"

"That can't be what this is!" Carol exclaimed, her body was visibly trembling with undisguised fear.

Daryl hated seeing her so scared, but he knew that there was no way to help it. He tore his eyes away from her and looked over at the group. "There's some kinda illness spreadin' around like wildfire. It's makin' people go insane. They're violent, unresponsive...cannibalistic... They're callin' it the 'Zombie Epidemic.' Now I don' know about no zombies, but that fucker outside jus' tried to take a damn chunk outta my leg."

"Well let's go to town and kick some ass!" Merle exclaimed. "What're we still doin' here lil' brother?"

"Shut up, Merle," Daryl hissed. "You and T-Dog go outside and keep watch. If any more of them people come up, we need ta take care of it. Don' let 'em bite ya...if ya can help it, don't let 'em even touch ya. No one really said how the virus spread..."

Merle didn't look as though he liked being told what to do by his little brother, and looked even more unhappy being told that he was going to be guarding with T-Dog, but seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation nonetheless. Nodding curtly, Merle snatched Daryl's knife from it's sheath and walked out, surprisingly not saying a single word. T-Dog walked out after him, and closed the sliding glass door behind them.

"Grab your things," Daryl commanded to everyone. "We don't have much time, I don't wanna be navigatin' the streets when it gets to be too dark out."

"W-where are we going?" Amy demanded, her eyes and face were blotchy red from tears.

"There's a quarry a ways off from here. Merle and I would set camp up there when we go huntin'." Daryl said. "Figured that we could get there an' a couple of us could come back and see what the hell's goin' on tomorrow when daylight hits."

"Why can't we stay here like Rick said?" Lori demanded, she tried to sound in charge and in control, but her shaking voice gave her away. She was as terrified as everyone else.

"Not safe," Daryl said curtly, not wanting to get into the finer details of why until the children were out of earshot. Despite the fact that he wanted them scared, he didn't want them terrified. He looked around at all of the people just gaping at him and felt a surge of impatience. "The hell people? Let's go! Get yer damn asses in gear!"

That seemed to jar everyone out of their shock. They all scrambled to their feet, rushing in different directions to scavenge different supplies. Dale looked at him for a moment; he was leaning against the wall beside the front door, his arms crossed. "We should only take a couple of vehicles tonight, my RV is packed and ready to go at any time. We can take her and your truck. Merle can ride with me in case we get separated. He knows his way there too, right?"

Daryl nodded and said, "Sounds like a good idea, ole man."

Dale opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the front door slamming open. T-Dog and Merle both ran inside, both looked to be seconds from flipping their shit. Daryl eyed them both for a second, and knew that he didn't need a translator. Their expressions were crystal clear. "Hey! Hurry the hell up! We need to leave NOW!" Daryl thundered.

Everyone came running through the halls and rooms into the living room, their arms filled with everything from peanut butter to thick socks. "Merle, yer ridin' with Dale, we're going' ta the huntin' groun's," he commanded. "Carol, ya an' Sophia can ride with me."

His reasons were selfish, but he was okay with that. His nerves were close to shot, and having her and her daughter around gave him some incentive to keep fighting. "Let's go!" he commanded.

He looked longingly at his buck knife, which Merle had in his hand, but he knew that his spare was in the truck. His brother would need it to help the others...counting on the fact that he didn't run off in a quick hurry to save his own ass. He opened the back sliding door, and saw in the dim moonlight that it was clear. He quickly ran down the stairs and to the side of the house, where his truck was parked. What he saw past that made him want to start cussing up a storm.

There had to have been fifty stragglers in the streets, moaning into the otherwise silent air. They did remind him of zombies, and not for the first time in the last twenty minutes, he was wondering if he was having some strange dream because Merle spiked his beer earlier that day.

He heard soft footsteps behind him, and knew that it was just Carol and Sophia trying to keep their footsteps silent and failing miserably. He turned around and saw Carol hugging Sophia's head into her chest so she wouldn't be able to see the stumbling people on the streets. As nice as it was, it was slowing them down and causing both of them to stumble. He noticed that they had managed to snag the attention of a few of the obviously infected people, who were now stumbling their way into the yard. "Shit!" he hissed under his breath.

He spun completely around and snatched Sophia out of Carol's arms and lifted her so that her face was buried into his chest. The child tensed up for a moment before flinging her good arm around Daryl's neck and held on to him tightly, sobbing quietly into his shirt. Daryl motioned for Carol to get in the passenger's side and he climbed into the driver's side with Sophia still clinging to him. He discarded her as gently and quickly as possible into the middle bench seat and started the truck up. He looked behind him long enough to see the RV drive to the other side of the house and out of his sight.

His head circled around, and he barely noticed the way Carol was looking at him panickingly as Sophia cried with her head on her mother's lap. Putting the truck in reverse, he managed to back away just as the first person slammed on the hood, leaving what seemed to be a bloody handprint. He slammed on the breaks as soon as he could make a turn in the back yard without crashing into the house, and sped off, just as another one of the infected crashed into the bed. They were on the road a second later, weaving through the seemingly drunken bodies as they tried to keep up with Dale in his RV.

**OMFG! Am I the only one shocked from last night?! If you haven't seen the latest episode...WATCH IT! **

**Well...heeeere's ZOMBIES! Not that they know it yet...lol. Can anyone see the delicious possibilities for their trip outta town going bad? Review with your thoughts they make my day!**

**Vickih, I loved your idea! I think I know how EVERYTHING is gonna go down. Thanks so much!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: if I owned the walking dead. Carol would never have been kicked out of the prison.**

_***Carol Peletier***_

She was somewhere between wanting to cry and yell at Daryl for making them leave Dale's house and jump across the seat and hug the life out of them for taking her and her daughter to a safer place. So she just settled for silently stroking Sophia's hair. Her little girl had just stopped crying as they made it to the main road. Carol realized that they needed to get to the opposite side of town to get to this quarry that Daryl was taking about. People were stumbling after them sluggishly as they raced through the dark streets, swerving around what seemed to be drunken pedestrians, and forsaken cars.

The night was eerily quiet as they drove, which unnerved Carol. Even in a town as small as theirs, normally there was something making noise, even if it was just crickets. Now there was nothing, the only thing that she could hear was the sound of the truck slicing through air. That was until the odd bloodcurdling scream would rip through the night, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand straight up. Sophia would jerk and try to sit up each time the disturbing noise was made, but Carol would hold her firmly against her lap, not wanting her baby to see the frightening seen that she was enduring.

Daryl was tense in the driver's seat; his face was set in a deep frown, and that, more than anything else, scared Carol. Daryl looked angry a lot, even before his run-in with Ed, he always looked angry, or moody, but the way his posture was to go with the frown told Carol that Daryl wasn't pissed off at all. He was worried. She felt herself shake slightly; if Daryl was worried enough to look worried, things must be really bad. She bit her bottom lip, unsure of whether or not she should ask if she had missed out on a vital fact.

It was just a sickness. If the CDC had found the virus, they would be quick at work finding a cure, which would be distributed in no time...right? Needing to hear some kind of reassurance, even if it was a fake one, she turned slightly and asked, "Daryl, how bad do you think this is?"

He was silent for a moment, his frown deepened slightly, and Carol was suddenly mortified that she had angered him by asking. He inhaled deeply, and exhaled loudly before slowly saying, "I dunno, it could jus' be somethin' minor, and we'll be back to work by Monday...hope so anyway."

"And if it isn't?" Sophia asked, her voice trembling uncontrollably. A look of displeasure wiped across Daryl's face as she spoke.

"If it ain't," Daryl said after a few seconds of silence, "then I guess we'll be on an extra long huntin' trip."

Sophia looked at him strangely for a moment before she seemed to relax almost completely against her mother. "Will you teach me how to catch a squirrel?"

Daryl's eyes flickered to her for a moment before he looked back at the road, swerving quickly before he hit an infectee. "I guess so, kid," he sighed, "ya need ta know how ta do all that stuff anyways. I'll teach ya how ta clean 'em too if ya'd like."

"I don't want to skin a squirrel," Sophia exclaimed, sounding mortified. "I wanna keep it as a pet!"

"Sophie," Carol said, "let Daryl drive, you don't want us crashing, do you?"

"Nah," Daryl said quickly. "I don' mind. She ain' causing no harm righ' now."

"So will you help me get a pet squirrel?"

"Tha's up ta yer mama, though I don't know why you'd wan' a pet squirrel..." Daryl told her quietly.

Carol looked at Daryl in slight wonder. He was distracting her daughter from the horrors outside. Something that her father should have been doing, but he had never even bothered with Sophia, and here Daryl was trying to help her keep a level head during what looked like an apocalyptic nightmare from a cheesy horror movie.

She looked back at Sophia, trying to forget what was going on around her for a moment as she stroked her daughter's hair. It didn't work all that well, because Daryl slammed on the breaks, curse words flew out of his mouth as fast as he could say them. His hands pounded on the steering wheel loudly as Carol looked up. She had to stifle a scream of horror as she looked around. A car wreck was blocking their path, the infected people were stumbling around the wreck, and now shuffling toward the truck. Their faces were illuminated by the light.

Carol noticed, with a feeling of horror, that they all looked deadened. Their eyes were glazed over, and they all looked as though they had taken a bath in a tub full of blood. Their faces seemed to have sunken in, and their expressions seemed to be a uniformed look of ravenous hunger. _Cannibalistic_, she thought, remembering the radio broadcast. She knew exactly what these people were hungry for, and it made the whole situation so much more surreal.

She looked at the crossroad, and the lunch that she had eaten at Dale's was threatening to come up all over Daryl's truck. The mangled remains of a child was laying beside a crunched green Honda. She couldn't tell anything about the kid, it was too bloody and mangled up, and too many chunks of it was missing to make any observations. Then it moved... She was trembling so badly, that she hadn't even noticed Daryl backing up and driving down a bumpy dirt road.

"D-did you see..." she managed to stutter out before choking on her own words.

"Yeah," Daryl replied in a clipped tone, his tanned knuckles turning almost white from his grip on the steering wheel.

"I-it moved-"

"I know, Carol," Daryl said. "Get a grip. I need ya with me. Keep yer shit together for righ' now."

"What moved, mama?" Sophia piped up, causing her to jump. She had forgotten about her daughter being on her lap, she had been so quiet and still.

"Nothing important," Carol managed to say evenly. "Just keep your head down, honey."

There were no straggling creatures behind them...she didn't even know if they classified as people. Because as far as she knew, people didn't get eaten alive and mangled to the point that she could identifying the gender, and get back up and walk again. Most people didn't look dead when they shuffled around, moaning. Those people looked more like zombies than anything else and the thought terrified her.

They were going too fast for a road so bumpy, but Daryl didn't slow down. Despite the smallness of the town, Carol had never been down the road that they were driving on, and was beyond shocked when Daryl slammed on the breaks and took a sharp left turn. She jumped and had told hold back a small cry of fear, as she held Sophia even more tightly to her. Looking around, she saw that they were in a trailer park.

"Daryl," she breathed, "Where are we going?"

"Some place safe," he replied softly. His face betrayed no emotion, and Carol wondered how badly he was shaken by all of this, if he was even shaken at all.

She rubbed Sophia's back, reassured by his words. If Daryl thought that it was safe, then she believed that it was safe. He wasn't the type to lie or sugarcoat, she realized that, and she had to trust him, there were no other options.

He turned into a yard filled with trees and the forest was right behind it. The house seemed to be in bad condition, about to fall over, and the yard was unkempt. Weeds and grass seemed to be about knee high, and different car parts lay strewn all over the place, causing certain depressions in the grass to look like black holes in the dim light. Daryl didn't miss a step as he opened his door and jumped out. Sophia slowly sat up and looked around, her face paler than the people that she saw shuffling around earlier due to fear. "C'mere," Daryl told her gently.

Sophia looked at him with wide eyes, before looking back at Carol, who nodded at her daughter to listen to him.

"C'mon, kid," Daryl said, his voice sounding a bit more impatient. "We don' got time fer this. Let's go."

Sophia scooted over and Daryl picked her up and held her against him. Carol opened her door, and saw, with a feeling of dread that the people (or whatever they were) were shuffling down the road maybe two hundred yards. They didn't seem to see them, but Carol didn't know for sure, and she hated being uncertain with her daughter involved.

"Let's go, woman!" Daryl hissed urgently from the other side of the truck

Carol was snapped from her shock by the quiet sound and raced forward. Sophia had her face buried in Daryl's chest, visibly shaking. Daryl was whispering to her, "Shh, ya gotta stay quiet."

Sophia was sniffling, but Carol saw her nod. "Follow me," Daryl whispered almost inaudibly. She figured that he was going to go into the house, but he walked behind it, and that was the first time she noticed something was reflecting the moonlight on his back as he moved. A crossbow was slung across his shoulder for their protection, and Carol was suddenly glad that she was stuck there with him instead of Ed.

_****Daryl Dixon****_

By carrying Sophia, he had sacrificed safety for speed. Carol was trailing beside him nervously and he felt bad for her. Daryl didn't know what was going on, but he knew that he was holding Carol's entire world in his arms, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to her or her mother. That was why he had brought them to his father's house. The old bastard was out hunting, or so he thought considering the truck was gone, and he figured that he would be safe to use the shed where most of the hunting gear was stored.

They passed the barrier of the trees, and as much as Daryl hated to do it, he set Sophia down, and crouched with her. "Listen, 'phia," he said almost inaudibly, "I wan' you ta stay right by her momma. I've gotta be able ta protect ya. Can ya do tha'?"

Sophia nodded quickly, her eyes wide and still moist from tears of terror. Carol's hand reached out and clasped her daughter's. He looked up and saw Carol give him a nod, as if telling him to lead the way. Her eyes held that same fire in them that they had the day before and Daryl figured that Sophia was in good hands for the time being. He stood back up and adjusted his crossbow so that he was holding it.

"Stay close," he said as they made their way further into the woods.

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

The forest had been thankfully not hit yet. The crazed infectees had most likely went after the panicking dumbasses in the more busy part of town. The shed was only small. It was big enough for all of them, but they would start feeling claustrophobic after a while, and Daryl wasn't to big on being in a tight space for a long time without a back up plan, but he knew that he needed to grab the weapons anyways, it would be the only way to get out of the town safely using the back roads.

Daryl was silent as he got to the shed. He grabbed the door, which opened with a rusty creak, causing him to flinch at the unexpected noise. As soon as it open, he found himself falling backward. A snarl sounded from a large dog, as he hit the dirt. He heard Sophia cry out and Carol tripping over herself trying to get her out of the way and hush her at the same time. The dog barred his teeth and growled, but just when Daryl thought it was going to rip his throat out, it just licked his face.

He basked in relief for a moment before shoving the thing off him. He regarded it with careful eyes for a moment, taking it in. It was a large black lab, with deep brown eyes. It wagged its tail at him, and made a low whining noise in its throat. It sniffed him and then trotted over to Carol and Sophia, sniffing them too.

Daryl didn't know what a dog was doing in his old man's shed, unless he was his hunting dog. In that case, the old bastard hadn't kicked the habit of abuse, which he now extended to his pets. He didn't take too long to ponder the question as he motioned for the two of them to wait outside as he jumped into the slightly raised wooden flooring of the cabin. He felt around and found the gas lantern that his old man kept inside and turned it on. He looked around, and saw that most of the equipment was gone, save for a rifle or two and a few tents.

Cursing his luck, he walked out to Carol and Sophia, who were looking toward the back of the cabin with something that resembled horror. Daryl followed their line of sight. Two of the zombie-like infected were making their way past the cabin toward them. Knowing what he was going to have to do, it was either them or him and his two companions, he said, "Get in the shed, both of ya. And shut the door. Don' come out til' I tell ya to."

Carol gave him one last look of gratitude before pulling her daughter toward the building. Once he heard the door shut, he aimed his bow at the closest one, a sickly looking woman with blood running one of her arms from what looked to be a bite. "Don' come any closer," he warned, aiming straight at her chest.

She only let out a hungry moan and lurched at him. Not giving it a second thought, he fired. It impaled her through the chest and knocked her over, causing her companion, a man in a torn business suit, and an open, no longer bleeding, gash on his cheek, to topple over her. He saw the business man crawling toward him, but what unnerved him even more was when the woman sat up. An arrow was sticking out of where her heart was, and she sat up as if nothing was wrong.

"Fuck this," Daryl muttered to himself, walking forward. The man in this business suit walked up as if to shake his hand, but his mouth was open to take a chunk out of his neck. Daryl leaned out of the way, ramming into the man's shoulder with his own, causing him to fall back down.

The woman grabbed at his ankle, almost making him topple over, but before she could take a bite, he had his spare knife out, driving it into her nearest body part, her skull. She immediately stopped moving and her grip slackened. Daryl quickly grabbed the arrow out of her chest, just as the business man was coming at him, and as hard as he could, he drove the arrow into the soft spot behind his chin. He dropped like a stone, crashing to the ground with a thud.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out, he calmed down enough to look around. He didn't see any more of them. But what were they? Deep down in his gut he knew that they weren't people. No person could take a cross bow bolt to the heart and get back up like there was nothing wrong. They were like zombies. Maybe that's what they were, because he knew he had already seen the dead walking that night. Especially with

that child on the road.

And with that thought, he proceeded to lose every ounce of lunch that he had managed to eat, and most of his breakfast.

Getting himself back together, he walked back over to the shed. "Open up " he said in just over a whisper, knowing that he would be heard. The door immediately flew open, so fast that he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit with it.

"We're you hurt?" Carol demanded, her eyes filled with worry. "You're...oh my god, Daryl, you're covered in blood!"

"Shh!" Daryl hissed, looking around nervously. "We need ta leave, now. It's not safe. They move slow, Carol, I need ya ta watch the cabin from the outside and tell me if anymore come up. Don' try an' reason with them, it don' work. They'll kill ya, we're leaving as soon as I pack up some of this shit. We're gonna need it."

Sophia was behind Carol with the black dog by her side, watching him with wide, terror filled eyes. He suddenly felt bad for saying what he did, but he knew he had to say it. Carol just nodded, and walked past him, her skinny frame trembling. Daryl didn't lose time grabbing every supply within reach, throwing it in the large duffle bags that his father hadn't taken. There was just enough for two bags full.

Daryl grabbed one in each hand and beckoned Sophia to follow him out of the cabin, the dog trailing close behind. Daryl wasn't sure what to do with the lab, but he didn't have time to worry about it. Carol had just hissed his name. Her face had paled as she pointed toward the back of the clearing. As soon as Daryl looked he saw why. There was a small hoard of them shuffling toward them hungrily. Not wasting a moment, Daryl shouldered one of the bags and grabbed Sophia's wrist. "Run!" he snapped at both of them, not bothering to be quiet anymore.

**Yeah...I wasn't gonna end it here, but I figured why not? The show does it all the time. And I know that Norman Reedus asked for a dog and got a crossbow instead, that was a small joke about that, but he won't be around to stay...just yet anyways, lol. **

**Review and tell me your thoughts, and about anything you wanna see! **

**Bvdams: Sorry I can't PM you back right now...I'm lucky to be able to update, my internet situation isn't a good one. What do you mean by type of Carl? I was just gonna use the one off the show lol.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: if I owned TWD, Merle would be alive and by Daryl's side.**

_***Daryl Dixon***_

By the time he got back to the truck, he was cursing every cigarette that he had ever smoked, and vowing to quit cold turkey. Sophia had went from being dragged like a rag doll by Daryl to clinging to her mother for dear life as a small group of the infected ambushed them from the side. Daryl had flung the poor girl to the side, causing her to roll to a stop at her mother's feet. He hadn't hesitated in putting the first zombie down or the other two, much to Sophia's obvious distress.

They had sprinted all the way to the yard, which was, thankfully, still empty. Daryl had thrown the bags in the bed as the others got in the passenger's side. His heart was beating a mile a minute as he pulled off, not failing to notice how close they'd cut it. Carol was comforting a sobbing Sophia, who was now sitting as far as possible from Daryl, making him feel impossibly worse. It wasn't for the first time in his life, hell, not even the first time that night, that he asked God why he hated him so much.

He raced away from the trailer park, using the back roads, that he remembered using with his father and Merle all those years ago, to get out of town. They were bumpy and rough, and were probably making the other two passengers motion sick, but he knew the longer he stayed in the town with them, the more danger they all could face. He saw more of the walking dead and it spurred him to drive even faster, the situation going from real to scary real. If there was anything that Daryl didn't like, it was feeling scared, he had gone through enough of that when he was younger. And this was the closest he had come to being scared since he was a child.

He knew that he had brushed hands with death quite a few times that night, and he wasn't keen on making a habit out of it. He spared a glance at Carol and Sophia, both were understandably tense. Carol had tucked Sophia's head under her chin, and had both of her arms around her as she tried to get her daughter to go to sleep, insisting that everything was okay. He felt another pang of jealousy for the child, wondering what his mother would have done on a night like this. Probably leave him and his brother for bait as she attempted to drunkenly stumble away.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he concentrated on the road, silently deciding that he had been thinking way too much about his past over the last few days. He saw that the dog was in the he bed of the truck, wisely remaining silent. Daryl smiled almost imperceptibly. It looked as though Sophia got her pet.

_**~TWD D/C TWD~**_

They had been on the road for the better part of the night, taking back roads to avoid car wrecks, and back tracking the wrecks that he failed to avoid, was a time consuming task. He finally turned into the bumpy dirt road of the quarry. He looked over and saw that Sophia was sound asleep, and Carol seemed to be half our of it, neither stirring as the truck bounced up and down from all of the muddy potholes.

He saw Glenn before he got to the clearing. There was a hand gun tucked into the waist of his pants, which he pulled out as soon as he was alerted to noise. They were smart for posting a guard. Daryl was relieved that he wasn't stuck with completely useless people. Daryl came to a slow stop beside Glenn, who had cracked a smile and put his gun back up.

He jogged over to them quickly as Daryl rolled the window down. "God, man," Glenn exclaimed, looking as though he was considering hugging him, "you've got no idea how happy I am that its you! Your lunatic for a brother is flipping out 'cause you didn't make it back last night. What happened?"

"Bad wreck," Daryl replied. "Musta happened right after Dale got through the intersection. Took a detour, an' made it here on back roads, tryin' ta avoid traffic."

Glenn nodded, "Quick thinking..." he trailed off as the surprise passenger made its presence. "The hell is a dog doing in the back of your truck?"

"Long story, short round," Daryl quipped.

Glenn looked at him with a raised eyebrow at the nickname, but said nothing about it. "How're those two holding up?" Glenn asked quietly, nodding in their direction.

"Okay, I guess," Daryl shrugged. With the horrors that they had faced just hours ago, Daryl didn't expect them to be in top knotch condition. "Jus' in shock."

"I've got something to tell ya before you go into camp," he said quietly, casting a quick look to Carol, which Daryl imitated, and noted that she was now sound asleep.

"What?" Daryl asked, wondering what was so bad that he obviously didn't want Carol to hear it.

"When we were coming out of the town, some dumb ass jumped in front of the RV, clearly alive. Dale stopped and-"

"Get to the point, Glenn," Daryl snapped impatiently.

He took in a deep breath as he hesitated, his eyes darting to Carol's sleeping form on the other side if the truck before flitting back to Daryl and saying, "Ed's here."

Daryl blinked as the information settled in, trying to wrap his mind around it. His voice was calm and controlled as he spoke, "Ya let a useless woman beater into the camp?"

"Wasn't my call," Glenn defended. "Only reason why I'm telling you is because tensions are already high. No one likes him, but the way that they saw it was that no one deserves to be eaten alive like what would have happened if we would've left him."

"I'm warnin' ya now," Daryl hissed. "Ya either keep his ass in line, or I'll kill 'em."

Glenn shrugged, "Couldn't care less, man. Carol seems nice, she certainly doesn't deserve that surly jackass." He let out a low sigh and backed up, pointing toward the clearing, "Go ahead and get up there, I guess. Merle's gonna wanna know that you're safe. Tell Jim to come and relieve me, that way I can come into town with you."

"Why do you want to go into town?" Daryl questioned.

Glenn gave him a wry half smile, replying, "Does anyone know the roads like a pizza boy?" On that parting remark, Daryl drove forward.

The clearing was a large one with stunning green grass, and large trees all around it. People were starting to move around now that the sun was starting to rise. He figured that no one got very much sleep last night. He saw his brother viciously chopping firewood from beside Dale's RV, everyone smartly giving him at least a ten foot radius. As soon as they pulled in, everyone paused what they were doing and looked over. Some people smiled in relief, other just looked at Merle expectantly.

Daryl jumped out of his truck and walked to the other side, he opened the passenger door and gently nudged Carol, who jumped awake. She unconsciously clutched Sophia even more tightly to her until she realized that they were out of danger. Daryl gestured for her to give him the sleeping girl. Carol backed away from her and Daryl lifted her easily out of Carol's lap. Pulling her securely to his chest, he backed up. Once he was sure that Carol was alright enough to walk, he turned around and saw Merle stalking toward him.

"What the fu-"

Was as far as Merle got, shouting before Daryl cut him off. "Shut the hell up!" he hissed quietly. "She's had one hell of a rough night. If she wakes up, I'm kickin' yer ass!"

"When'd ya get so soft, Darylenia?" Merle taunted.

Daryl had to remind himself that he had an already injured girl in his arms. It was the only physical thing that was stopping him from pouncing on his dick for a brother. Dale came striding up, looking a little disheveled, but fine and cheerful all the same. Daryl guessed something's just never change.

"Merle, what happened to the firewood?" Dale questioned before looking at Daryl. "You can set her down in the RV, it's empty right now, and maybe the two of you should join her. It doesn't look as though you got much sleep."

"I'm fine," Daryl informed him curtly. "But Carol, maybe ya should go and take a nap with yer girl."

"Things need to be done around here," she protested. "I can't just sleep while everyone's doing work."

"There's nothin' out here that needs doin'," Merle told her, surprising Daryl. "Yer daughter needs ya. She's already gonna be scared when she wakes up, no need to make it worse by wakin' up, without ya in the RV."

Daryl walked behind Carol, giving Merle a strange look as he went. It wasn't like his brother to care about anyone openly. Maybe he saw himself in Sophia, like Daryl did. He set the child's sleeping form on the bed on the side of the wall, and moved out of the way so her mother could lay with her. "Alrigh'," Daryl said quietly, and nodded at Carol before walking back out the door and straight into Merle's wrath.

He was more quiet than before, but still causing a scene, something Daryl didn't like, dire situation or not. "The hell took ya so long?"

"Car crash by Morales' place," Daryl told him, "cut us off. Thought that maybe dad's huntin' shed would'a been a good spot for the nigh'."

"Explains the dog," Merle muttered, "figured yer slow ass went by a damn animal shelter."

Daryl scowled at Merle, but didn't say anything, not keen on getting into an argument with him. He figured that they didn't have time for it. Instead, he started on a more pressing matter. "Where's that sorry piece o' shit ya picked up las' night?"

Merle's face went from the covered up concern that Daryl had been used to seeing when he was younger, to outright hostile. "I told Dale ta run his sorry ass over."

"Shame he didn'," Daryl muttered. "I suppose he's somewhere poutin' while everyone else is doin' work?"

"Nah," Merle said, a satisfied smile came to his face as he paused to think about whatever he was thinking about. "Made sure his sorry ass was workin' got him out on watch, south side of the camp. Seemed real happy ta do it too...after I told 'im that his other choice was to go with the group goin' in ta the town an' be used as walker bait."

"Walker bait?" Daryl questioned.

"That's what they're callin' 'em," Merle said, his lips moving into a half smile that was less than amused. "Turned on the radio las' night after the kids went to sleep. This virus...it kills ya," Merle paused, as if to let it sink in, before continuing, "the only problem is ya don' stay dead."

Daryl looked at Merle stiffly, his eyebrow scrunched together in a frown as he shook his head. He wanted to demand what kind of dumb ass joke he was playing, but Daryl knew when he brother was joking and when his brother was serious. Merle looked as serious as he could get. The thought unnerved him.

"They said don' get bit and don' get scratched. It's how the virus spreads."

Daryl didn't know what to do or what to say. He was gonna need some time alone to process the information, but he didn't see a way out. He managed to keep a practiced straight face, and locked his emotions away, he would sort through them later.

_**~~TWD D/C TWD~~**_

Daryl passed Glenn's message on to Jim as soon as he was finished with Merle, who had gone back to savagely breaking g firewood apart. Amy walked up to him as he was walking away from his fellow mechanic, and he said, "Kid, where's some water?"

"In the RV," she said, "thanks for bringing the dog, by the way, Carl loves him. Named him Riley."

Daryl just nodded in acknowledgement and watched as she ran off to her older sister, both of who were talking to Dale by the tree line. Daryl walked into the vehicle, but didn't miss Dale telling him to put some fresh clothes on.

"...me for dead!" he heard someone exclaim angrily as he opened the door.

He saw Ed glaring over at him, as Carol was backed against the wall on the opposite to Sophia, who,was clearing with her body under the sheets as he tried to hide from her father's wrath. Carol was trying to make Sophia unnoticed by Ed, and once again, Daryl was struck by how much of a good mother she was.

"'Phia," Daryl said to the child, never taking his eyes off Ed. "I heard that Carl named the dog. You wanna go out and play with 'em?"

Sophia raised her head from behind the pillows, terrified of being called out by her father.

"Don't talk to my daughter, you hillbilly piece of shit!" Ed thundered.

Daryl felt his short temper hit its exploding point. He stalked over and grabbed Ed by the back of his shirt, and threw him roughly on the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He landed with a thud and the RV rocked in protest. Sophia and Carol were both silent, but Daryl didn't really notice, he was too preoccupied bending down and grabbing Ed by his thick neck and pulling him to his feet, where he unceremoniously threw him against the wall where he had pinned Carol moments before.

"Let's get one thing straight," Daryl growled. "Ya don' get ta speak fer Carol or 'Phia anymore, 'cause you're a pathetic piece o' trash who can't take care of his own damn family!" Daryl was shaking in blind rage as Ed punched him in the stomach. Daryl brought his knee up, catching him on his fat lower belly. The man let out a groan. "Not so fun hittin' when they hit back, is it?" Daryl growled. "Ya put yer lil girl in the hospital," Daryl growled. "Split Carol's lip, and now yer pissy 'cause she didn' risk her daughter's life ta come lookin' get yer sorry ass! If I was her, I wouldn' lose a fuckin' wink o' sleep over the damn thought of ya bein' gone!"

Ed tried to look angry and dignified, but the fear in his eyes completely ruined the look. Daryl curled his upper lip in distaste of the bastard in front of him before backing away. He turned around and saw that Carol was blocking Sophia from what he was doing, and he was glad. "Get the hell outta here, Ed and don' even look their way again."

He heard footsteps, and then as Ed got to the door, the jackass said, "Ya really did pick this piece a white trash over me. Hell with all y'all, don' ask me for a damn thing!"

When he was gone, silence rang through the area, and Daryl assessed Carol and Sophia. "I'm sorry if I scared yer girl," he mumbled, turning away from them and looking for the water.

Before he could find much of anything, there was a set of arms wrapped around him from his back, burying their face into him. He stiffened from shock, but managed to get himself under control before he shoved her off. He figured Sophia wouldn't like that. He let him go after a few seconds and he slowly turned around. She beamed at him, tears falling out of her eyes, and Daryl was unsure of how to handle it. He didn't know how to handle a crying girl anymore than he knew how to handle a crying woman.

Patting her shoulder as if she was a dog was the only thing that he could think of, and he looked at Carol, who was staring at the scene with deadened blue eyes for help. She got the message, because she walked over and gave Sophia a hug.

"Thank you," the child whispered to Daryl as she hugged her mother back. "Thank you for not letting him hurt her."

Daryl felt his throat tighten, from the obvious gratitude from the girl, and really could have used that water. He swallowed with difficulty before saying. "Ain' no big deal, I was jus' comin' in here fer some water. Glad I did now."

"I'll get you some water," Sophia volunteered, tripping over herself to run to the very back of the RV before Daryl could say a thing. She sounded like she was trying to hold back tears so she could do him the favor. That was a strong little girl.

"Ya alrigh'?" he muttered, turning to assess her mother more closely. "He didn' hit ya, did he?"

"You stopped him before he could," she told him quietly, her hand slowly reached over and touched his cheek. "Thank you, I...I don't know what I would do without you...you've helped me so much...and...and you barely know me." her voice caught several times, and her hand was shaky when she moved it away from him. "Thank you, so much."

Daryl just shrugged awkwardly, looking at the floor. "'S nothin'."

Sophia ran back toward them, a plastic bottle of water clutched in her thin hands. She held it out to him shaking slightly, as if she was worried it wasn't good enough. He unscrewed the cap and took a mouthful of it, before screwing the lid back on and handing it to her, "Here ya go, kid, ya need it more than I do."

She took it, mumbling a "Thank you." as she did.

"Alrigh'," Daryl said, looking at them both, "I'm about ta go into the town, I want ya to stay around Merle, don' let Ed near ya without 'im there. Ya can trust 'im," Daryl said, remembering her apprehension of him before. "He don' like no woman beater."

Carol and Sophia both nodded in understanding and Daryl exited the RV. He walked over to Merle, who was still chopping away at firewood. Before he could say anything, his older brother was already speaking. "A few people wanted to see what was goin' on, I told 'em to keep their noses outta it, and that ya had it covered."

"Thanks," Daryl said sincerely. He didn't really want anyone having an excuse to start drama when they were already this far up shit's creek without a paddle.

"No problem, baby brother," Merle drawled. "Never thought I'd see the day when you actually cared for a woman."

Daryl felt his cheeks heat up at the insinuation. "It ain't like that," he mumbled.

"Whatever ya say lil brother," Merle shrugged as he lined another piece of wood up to split.

Daryl scowled at his all-knowing voice, and figured what he said next was just gonna make it worse, but he had to ask him. "Look, man, I wanna ask ya for a favor."

"An' what would that be?" Merle question, curiosity burning bright in his eyes. It wasn't often Daryl asked him for anything.

"Keep an eye on Carol and 'Phia, I don' wan' Ed takin' advantage of me being gone," he crossed his arms and frowned, daring his brother to say something.

"Alright'," Merle replied, slamming the ax down and splitting the wood. "I'll keep 'em in one piece fer ya," and then the closest thing to brotherly love he had shown in years: "jus' make sure ya get yer sorry ass back here in one piece too."

Daryl allowed a faint smile to cross his face. "Plan on it."

**A trip to the town! A lot of you guys are probably wondering "what the hell happened to Shane and Rick?!" Great question, and you'll have to wait to find out! Lol. Thanks so much for the support, you guys don't know how much they mean to me! And anyone got any suggestions for a good story to read?**


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